Critical rotational speeds for superfluids in homogeneous traps

We present an asymptotic analysis of the effects of rapid rotation on the ground state properties of a superfluid confined in a two-dimensional trap. The trapping potential is assumed to be radial and homogeneous of degree larger than two in addition to a quadratic term. Three critical rotational velocities are identified, marking, respectively, the first appearance of vortices, the creation of a "hole" of low density within a vortex lattice, and the emergence of a giant vortex state free of vortices in the bulk. These phenomena have previously been established rigorously for a "flat" trap with fixed boundary but the "soft" traps considered in the present paper exhibit some significant differences, in particular the giant vortex regime, that necessitate a new approach. These differences concern both the shape of the bulk profile and the size of vortices relative to the width of the annulus where the bulk of the superfluid resides. Close to the giant vortex transition the profile is of Thomas-Fermi type in "flat" traps, whereas it is gaussian for soft traps, and the "last" vortices to survive in the bulk before the giant vortex transition are small relative to the width of the annulus in the former case but of comparable size in the latter. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.