Split-merge cycle, fragmented collapse, and vortex disintegration in rotating Bose-Einstein condensates with attractive interactions

The dynamical instabilities and ensuing dynamics of singly- and doubly-quantized vortex states of Bose-Einstein condensates with attractive interactions are investigated using full 3D numerical simulations of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. With increasing the strength of attractive interactions, a series of dynamical instabilities such as quadrupole, dipole, octupole, and monopole instabilities emerge. The most prominent instability depends on the strength of interactions, the geometry of the trapping potential, and deviations from the axisymmetry due to external perturbations. Singly-quantized vortices split into two clusters and subsequently undergo split-merge cycles in a pancake-shaped trap, whereas the split fragments immediately collapse in a spherical trap. Doubly-quantized vortices are always unstable to disintegration of the vortex core. If we suddenly change the strength of interaction to within a certain range, the vortex splits into three clusters, and one of the clusters collapses after a few split-merge cycles. The vortex split can be observed using a current experimental setup of the MIT group.