Multi-vortex Phase Transitions in Rotating Bose-Einstein Condensates

Abstract

We study the lowest energy states of a weakly interacting trapped atomic Bose-Einstein condensate in both quantum and classical cases. An analytic expression for the ground-state wavefunction of a rotating Gross-Pitaevskii condensate of trapped atoms describes the onset of vorticity in an accelerated trap, starting from the vortex entry followed by formation of growing symmetric Wigner molecules. Within a unified picture, it explains the staircase of the angular momentum jumps and the behavior of the bosonic occupancies observed in numerical and variational studies. The similarity of this behavior and mesoscopic superconductors is discussed. Show more