Topological superfluid transition in bubble-trapped condensates

Abstract

Ultracold quantum gases are highly controllable and thus capable of simulating difficult quantum many-body problems ranging from condensed matter physics to astrophysics. Although experimental realizations have so far been restricted to flat geometries, recently also curved quantum systems, with the prospect of exploring tunable geometries, have been produced in microgravity facilities as ground-based experiments are technically limited. Here, we analyze bubble-trapped condensates, in which the atoms are confined on the surface of a thin spherically symmetric shell by means of external magnetic fields. A thermally induced proliferation of vorticity yields a vanishing of superfluidity. We describe the occurrence of this topological transition by conceptually extending the theory of Berezinskii, Kosterlitz, and Thouless for infinite uniform systems to such finite-size systems. Unexpectedly, we find universal scaling relations for the mean critical temperature and the finite width of the superfluid transition. Furthermore, we elucidate how they could be experimentally observed in finiteerature hydrodynamic excitations.