Rotation of a Bose-Einstein condensate held under a toroidal trap

The aim of this paper is to perform a numerical and analytical study of a rotating Bose-Einstein condensate placed in a harmonic plus Gaussian trap, following the experiments of Bretin et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 5 (2004)]. The rotational frequency Ω has to stay below the trapping frequency ω of the harmonic potential and we find that the condensate has an annular shape containing a triangular vortex lattice. As Ω approaches ω, the width of the condensate and the circulation inside the central hole get large. We are able to provide analytical estimates of the size of the condensate and the circulation both in the lowest Landau level limit and in the Thomas-Fermi limit, providing an analysis that is consistent with experiment.