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Predicted signatures of rotating Bose–Einstein condensates

Author

Listed:
  • D. A. Butts

    (University of California
    Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

  • D. S. Rokhsar

    (University of California
    Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

Abstract

Superfluids are distinguished from normal fluids by their peculiar response1 to rotation: circulating flow in superfluid helium2,3, a strongly coupled Bose liquid, can appear only as quantized vortices4,5,6. The newly created Bose–Einstein condensates7,9—clouds of millions of ultracold, weakly interacting alkali-metal atoms that occupy a single quantum state—offer the possibility of investigating superfluidity in the weak-coupling regime. An outstanding question is whether Bose–Einstein condensates exhibit a mesoscopic quantum analogue of the macroscopic vortices in superfluids, and what its experimental signature would be. Here we report calculations of the low-energy states of a rotating, weakly interacting Bose gas. We find a succession of transitions between stable vortex patterns of differing symmetries that are in general qualitative agreement with observations5 of rotating superfluid helium, a strong-coupling superfluid. Counterintuitively, the angular momentum per particle is not quantized. Some angular momenta are forbidden, corresponding to asymmetrical unstable states that provide a physical mechanism for the entry of vorticity into the condensate.

Suggested Citation

  • D. A. Butts & D. S. Rokhsar, 1999. "Predicted signatures of rotating Bose–Einstein condensates," Nature, Nature, vol. 397(6717), pages 327-329, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:397:y:1999:i:6717:d:10.1038_16865
    DOI: 10.1038/16865
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    Cited by:

    1. Jiang, Xunda & Zeng, Yue & Ji, Yikai & Liu, Bin & Qin, Xizhou & Li, Yongyao, 2022. "Vortex formation and quench dynamics of rotating quantum droplets," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    2. Rafael F. Barros & Subhajit Bej & Markus Hiekkamäki & Marco Ornigotti & Robert Fickler, 2024. "Observation of the topological aberrations of twisted light," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-6, December.

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