2000/12/06 by Juan J. Garcia-Ripoll, Victor M. Perez-Garcia
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreva.63.041603
published as Phys. Rev. A 63, 041603 (2001) · 3 figures, 4 pages
arxiv created 2000/12/06 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30
We study the generation of vortices in rotating Bose--Einstein condensates, a situation which has been realized in a recent experiment (K. W. Madison, F. Chevy, W. Wohlleben, J. Dalibard, Phys. Rev. Lett. \bf 84 806 (2000)). By combining a linear stability analysis with the global optimization of the nonlinear free energy functional, we study the regimes that can be reached in current experiments. We find a hysteresis phenomenon in the vortex nucleation due to the metastabilization of the vortexless condensate. We also prove that for a fast enough rotating trap the ground state of the condensate hosts one or more bent vortex lines.