Persistent currents in two-component condensates in a toroidal trap

Abstract

The stability of persistent currents in a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate in a toroidal trap is studied both in the miscible and immiscible regimes. In the miscible regime we show that superflow decay is related to linear instabilities of the spin-density Bogoliubov mode. We find a region of partial stability, where the flow is stable in the majority component while it decays in the minority component. We also characterize the dynamical instability appearing for a large relative velocity between the two components. In the immiscible regime the stability criterion is modified and depends on the specific density distribution of the two components. The effect of a coherent coupling between the two components is also discussed.