Phantom vortices: hidden angular momentum in ultracold dilute Bose-Einstein condensates.

ABSTRACT: Vortices are essential to angular momentum in quantum systems such as ultracold atomic gases. The existence of quantized vorticity in bosonic systems stimulated the development of the Gross-Pitaevskii mean-field approximation. However, the true dynamics of angular momentum in finite, interacting many-body systems like trapped Bose-Einstein condensates is enriched by the emergence of quantum correlations whose description demands more elaborate methods. Herein we theoretically investigate the full many-body dynamics of the acquisition of angular momentum by a gas of ultracold bosons in two dimensions using a standard rotation procedure. We demonstrate the existence of a novel mode of quantized vorticity, which we term the phantom vortex. Contrary to the conventional mean-field vortex, can b

SUBMITTER: Weiner SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5238373 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature