Stability of a vortex in a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Based on the method of matched asymptotic expansions and on a time-dependent variational analysis, we study the dynamics of a vortex in a three-dimensional disk-shaped nonaxisymmetric condensate in the Thomas-Fermi limit. Both methods show that a vortex in a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate has formally unstable normal mode(s) with positive normalization and negative frequency, corresponding to a precession of the vortex line around the center of the trap. In a rotating trap, the solution becomes stable above an angular velocity Omega(m), characterizing the onset of metastability with respect to small transverse displacements of the vortex from the central axis.

published proceedings

  • Phys Rev Lett

author list (cited authors)

  • Svidzinsky, A. A., & Fetter, A. L.

citation count

  • 142

complete list of authors

  • Svidzinsky, AA||Fetter, AL

publication date

  • June 2000