title: Stability of a vortex in a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate.
abstract: Based on the method of matched asymptotic expansions and on a time-dependent variational analysis, we study the dynamics of a vortex in a three-dimensional disk-shaped nonaxisymmetric condensate in the Thomas-Fermi limit. Both methods show that a vortex in a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate has formally unstable normal mode(s) with positive normalization and negative frequency, corresponding to a precession of the vortex line around the center of the trap. In a rotating trap, the solution becomes stable above an angular velocity Omega(m), characterizing the onset of metastability with respect to small transverse displacements of the vortex from the central axis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-4060, USA.
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Svidzinsky
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Fetter