Vortex dynamics in a parabolically confined Bose–Einstein condensate

A path-integral technique for the calculation of the dynamics of parabolically confined Bose gases is presented. This method is applied to find the time evolution of a Bose–Einstein condensate containing a vortex. We find that the vortex core rotates around the centre of the trapping potential, keeping the distance between the vortex core and the centre of the confinement potential constant, in agreement with recent experimental observations. The theoretically calculated period of this rotation (805±10 ms) agrees with the experimentally observed period (800±50 ms).