Cooperative ring exchange and quantum melting of vortex lattices in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates

Abstract

Cooperative ring exchange is suggested as a mechanism of quantum melting of vortex lattices in a rapidly rotating quasi-two-dimensional atomic Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). Using an approach pioneered by Kivelson et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 56, 873 (1986)] for the fractional quantized Hall effect, we calculate the condition for quantum melting instability by considering large-correlated ring exchanges in a two-dimensional Wigner crystal of vortices in a strong ``pseudomagnetic field'' generated by the background superfluid Bose particles. BEC may be profitably used to address issues of quantum melting of a pristine Wigner solid devoid of complications of real solids.