Vortex knots in a Bose-Einstein condensate

Abstract
We present a method for numerically building a vortex knot state in the superfluid wave function of a Bose-Einstein condensate. We integrate in time the governing Gross-Pitaevskii equation to determine evolution and shape preservation of the two (topologically) simplest vortex knots which can be wrapped over a torus. We find that the velocity of a vortex knot depends on the ratio of poloidal and toroidal radius: for smaller ratio, the knot travels faster. Finally, we show how vortex knots break up into vortex rings. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.85.036306 8 More Received 26 October 2011Published 19 March 2012©2012 American Physical Society

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