Minimum critical velocity of a Gaussian obstacle in a Bose-Einstein condensate

Abstract

When a superfluid flows past an obstacle, quantized vortices can be created in the wake above a certain critical velocity. In the experiment by Kwon et al. [Phys. Rev. A 91, 053615 (2015)], the critical velocity ${v}_{c}$ was measured for atomic Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) using a moving repulsive Gaussian potential, and ${v}_{c}$ was minimized when the potential height ${V}_{0}$ of the obstacle was close to the condensate chemical potential $\ensuremath{\mu}$. Here we numerically investigate the evolution of the critical vortex shedding in a two-dimensional BEC with increasing ${V}_{0}$ and show that the minimum ${v}_{c}$ at the critical strength ${V}_{0c}\ensuremath{\approx}\ensuremath{\mu}$ results from the local density reduction and vortex-pinning effect of the repulsive obstacle. The spatial distribution of the superflow around the moving obstacle just below ${v}_{c}$ is examined. The particle density at the tip of the obstacle decreases as ${V}_{0}$ increases to ${V}_{c0}$, and at the critical strength, a vortex dipole is suddenly formed and dragged by the moving obstacle, indicating the onset of vortex pinning. The minimum ${v}_{c}$ exhibits power-law scaling with the obstacle size $\ensuremath{\sigma}$ as ${v}_{c}\ensuremath{\sim}{\ensuremath{\sigma}}^{\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\gamma}}$ with $\ensuremath{\gamma}\ensuremath{\approx}1/2$.