Hysteresis in a Superfluid Atom Circuit

The energy band structure of a rotating BEC with a link in a quasi-one-dimensional torus and the role of dissipation is studied. Through this study we are able to give a microscopic interpretation of hysteresis recently observed in the experiment and we confirm that the hysteresis is the result of the presence of metastable state. We consider of both the adiabatic change and the instantaneous change of the rotation, and exhibit the differences between them. It is found that the sharp and size of the hysteresis loop change drastically with the strength of the link.