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Free keywords:
Condensed Matter, Quantum Gases, cond-mat.quant-gas
Abstract:
We investigate the deformation of wavefronts of sound waves in rotating
Bose-Einstein condensates. In irrational fluid flows Berry et al. identified
this kind of deformation as the hydrodynamic analogue of the Aharonov-Bohm
effect. We study this effect in Bose-Einstein condensates and obtain the
Aharonov-Bohm phase shift at all wavelengths. We show that this deformation of
wave fronts is seen in both phase and density fluctuations. For wavelengths
larger than the healing length, the phase fluctuations experience a phase shift
of the order of $2\pi$ times the winding number. We also consider lattices of
vortices. If the angular momentum of the vortices are aligned, the total phase
shift is $2\pi$ times the number of vortices in the condensate. Because of this
behaviour the hydrodynamic Aharonov-Bohm can be utilized as a probe for quantum
vorticity, whose experimental realization could offers an alternative route to
investigate quantum turbulence in the laboratory.
