Eur. Phys. J. D 36, 11-15 (2005)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2005-00219-1

Stability of a single vortex in a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate

Mathematical Physics, Lund Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 118, 22100 Lund, Sweden

Corresponding author: ^a georgios.kavoulakis@matfys.lth.se

Received: 3 January 2005
Revised: 11 May 2005
Published online: 9 August 2005

Abstract

We investigate the lowest state of a Bose-Einstein condensate with an off-center vortex state that is confined in a rotating harmonic potential. Our results are consistent with the fact that any single off-center vortex is unstable. Furthermore, a vortex state located at the center of the cloud first becomes locally stable as the rotational frequency increases. Finally our study implies the existence of hysteresis effects.