Annihilation and recurrence of vortex-antivortex pairs in two-component Bose-Einstein condensates

Abstract

The annihilation of vortex-antivortex pairs is a key event in two-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). It is known that dissipation or a catalyst vortex is required for the annihilation of the pairs in one-component BECs. We numerically confirmed in two-component BECs that the pairs can be annihilated even without any dissipation or catalyst vortices when the intercomponent interaction is strong. In addition, the pair is recreated alternately in two components under certain conditions, which we call the recurrence.