Vortices in condensate mixtures

Abstract

In a condensate made of two different atomic molecular species, Onsager's quantization condition implies that around a vortex the velocity field cannot be the same for the two species. We explore some simple consequences of this observation. Thus if the two condensates are in slow relative translation one over the other, the composite vortices are carried at a velocity that is a fraction of the single species velocity. This property is valid for attractive interaction and below a critical velocity which corresponds to a saddle-node bifurcation.