title: Activated nucleation of vortices in a dipole-blockaded supersolid condensate.
abstract: We investigate theoretically and numerically a model of a supersolid in a dipole-blockaded Bose-Einstein condensate. The dependence of the superfluid fraction with an imposed thermal bath and a uniform boost velocity on the condensate is considered. Specifically, we observe a critical velocity for the nucleation of vortices in our system that is strongly linked to a steplike decrease in the superfluid fraction. We are able to use a scaling argument based on the energy required to activate a vortex, relating the critical temperature to the critical velocity, and find that this relationship is in good agreement with the numerical simulations carried out on the nonlocal Gross-Pitaevskii equation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mason
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Josserand
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rica