Two-dimensional solitons in Bose-Einstein condensates with a disk-shaped trap

Abstract

We consider, both analytically and numerically, the evolution of two-dimensional (2D) nonlinear matter-wave pulses in a Bose-Einstein condensate with a disk-shaped trap and repulsive atom-atom interactions. Due to the strong confinement in the axial direction the sound speed of the system is c=(1/2 1/4)c 0, where c 0 is the corresponding value without the trap. From the 3D order-parameter equation of the condensate, we derive a soliton-bearing Kadomtsev-Petriashvili equation with positive dispersion. When the trapping potential is weak in two transverse directions, a low-depth plane dark soliton can propagate in the condensate with a changing profile but preserving its structure down to the boundary of the condensate. We show that high-depth plane dark solitons are unstable to long-wavelength transverse disturbances. The instability appears as a longitudinal modulation of the soliton amplitude decaying into vortices. We also show how a dark lumplike 2D nonlinear excitation can be excited in the system. Furthermore, a dark lump decaying algebraically in two spatial directions can propagate rather stable in the condensate, but disappears near the boundary of the condensate where two vortices are nucleated. The vortices move in opposite directions along the boundary and when meeting merge creating a new lump. Finally, we also provide results for head-on and oblique collisions of two lumps in the system.