2007/07/31 by M. I. Parke, N. K. Wilkin, J. M. F. Gunn +2 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #Strong Light-Matter Interactions #cond-mat.mes-hall #cond-mat.str-el
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.101.110401
published as PRL. 101, 110401 (2008) · 4 pages,4 figures
openalex publication_date 2008/09/10 · arxiv created 2008/09/11 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
With the imminent advent of mesoscopic rotating Bose-Einstein condensates in the lowest Landau level regime, we explore lowest Landau level vortex nucleation. An exact many-body analysis is presented in a weakly elliptical trap for up to 400 particles. Striking non-mean-field features are exposed at filling factors >>1. For example, near the critical rotation frequency pairs of energy levels approach each other with exponential accuracy. A physical interpretation is provided by requantizing a mean-field theory, where 1/N plays the role of Planck's constant, revealing two vortices cooperatively tunneling between classically degenerate energy minima. The tunnel splitting variation is described in terms of frequency, particle number, and ellipticity.