Topological Excitations in Spinor Bose-Einstein Condensates
Yuki Kawaguchi, Michikazu Kobayashi, Muneto Nitta +1 more
A rich variety of order parameter manifolds of multicomponent Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) admit various kinds of topological excitations, such as fractional vortices, monopoles, skyrmions, and knots. In this paper, we discuss two topological excitations in spinor BECs: non-Abelian vortices and knots. Unlike conventional vortices, non-Abelian vortices neither reconnect themselves nor pass through each other, but create a rung between them in a topologically stable manner. We discuss the collision dynamics of non-Abelian vortices in the cyclic phase of a spin-2 BEC. In the latter part, we show that a knot, which is a unique topological object characterized by a linking number or a Hopf invariant [π3 (S2) = Z], can be created using a conventional quadrupole magnetic field in a cold atomic system.
arXiv:1006.5839•Progress of Theoretical Physics Supplement•Oct 1, 2010•26 citations