Finite boson and fermion systems under extreme rotation: edge reconstruction and vortex formation

Abstract

Vortices can form when finite quantal systems are set rotating. In the limit of small particle numbers, the vortex formation in a harmonically trapped fermion system, with repulsively interacting particles, shows similarities to the corresponding boson system, with vortices entering the rotating cloud for increasing rotation. For a larger number of fermions, N ≳ 15, the fermion vortices compete and co-exist with (Chamon–Wen) edge-reconstructed ground states, forcing some ground states, as for example the central single vortex, into the spectrum of excited states. Experimentally, the fermion system could, for instance, be electrons in a semiconductor heterostructure, a quantum dot, and the corresponding boson system, a Bose–Einstein condensate in a magneto optical trap.