Dissipation and vortex creation in Bose-Einstein condensed gases

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Abstract
We solve the Gross-Pitaevskii equation to study energy transfer from an oscillating “object” to a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. Two regimes are found: for object velocities below a critical value, energy is transferred by excitation of phonons at the motion extrema; while above the critical velocity, energy transfer is via vortex formation. The second regime corresponds to significantly enhanced heating, in agreement with a recent experiment.