Precession of Vortices in Dilute Bose-Einstein Condensates at Finite Temperature

Abstract

We demonstrate that the precessional frequencies of vortices in Bose Einstein condensates (BECs) are determined by a conservation law, and not by the lowest lying excitation energy mode. We determine the precessional frequency for a single off-axis vortex and vortex lattices in BECs using the continuity equation, and solve this self-consistently with the time-independent Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) equations in the rotating frame. We find agreement with zero temperature calculations (Bogoliubov approximation), and a smooth variation in the precession frequency as the temperature is increased. Time-dependent solutions confirm the validity of these predictions.