Vortex dynamics in Bose-Einstein condensates

Abstract

The theoretical framework used to understand the Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) phenomenon is presented, with emphasis on the case with strong interactions, the so-called Thomas-Fermi regime. Superfluidity, a consequence of BEC important for the understanding of liquid helium, is characterized by the presence of quantized vortices. A heuristic ansatz for quantized vortices is presented, aiming to study them in a simulation, where the numerical implementation is based on the split-step Fourier method. Imaginary-time evolution is performed for the free vortex and one displaced vortex case. With the objective of studying the dynamics of the latter, real time evolution is performed. Finally, the results are briefly discussed