Singular and regular vortices on top of a background pulled to the center

Abstract

A recent analysis has revealed singular but physically relevant localized two-dimensional vortex states with density ∼r −4/3 at r→0 and a convergent total norm, which are maintained by the interplay of the potential of the attraction to the center, ∼−r −2, and a self-repulsive quartic nonlinearity, produced by the Lee-Huang-Yang correction to the mean-field dynamics of Bose–Einstein condensates. In optics, a similar setting, with the density singularity ∼r −1, is realized with the help of quintic self-defocusing. Here we present physically relevant antidark singular-vortex states in these systems, existing on top of a flat background. Numerical solutions for them are very accurately approximated by the Thomas–Fermi wave function. Their stability exactly obeys an analytical criterion derived from the consideration of small perturbations. The singular-vortex states exist as well in the case when the effective potential is weakly repulsive. It is demonstrated that the singular vortices can be excited by the input in the form of the ordinary nonsingular vortices, hence the singular modes can be created in the experiment. We also consider regular (dark) vortices maintained by the flat background, under the action of the repulsive central potential ∼+r −2. The dark modes with vorticities l\u2009=\u20090 and 1 are completely stable. In the case when the central potential is attractive, but the effective one, which includes the centrifugal term, is repulsive, and, in addition, a weak trapping potential ∼r 2 is applied, dark vortices with l\u2009=\u20091 feature an intricate pattern of alternating stability and instability regions. Under the action of the instability, states with l\u2009=\u20091 travel along tangled trajectories, which stay in a finite area defined by the trap. The analysis is also reported for dark vortices with l\u2009=\u20092, which feature a complex structure of alternating intervals of stability and instability against splitting. Lastly, simple but novel flat vortices are found at the border between the anidark and dark ones.