Vortex-induced phase-slip dissipation in a toroidal Bose-Einstein condensate flowing through a barrier

We study superfluid dissipation due to phase slips for a Bose-Einstein condensate flowing through a repulsive barrier inside a torus. The barrier is adiabatically raised across the annulus, while the condensate flows with a finite quantized angular momentum. At a critical height, a vortex moves from the inner region and reaches the barrier to eventually circulate around the annulus. At a higher critical height, an antivortex also enters into the torus from the outer region. Both vortex and antivortex decrease the total angular momentum by leaving behind a 2π phase slip. When they collide and annihilate or orbit along the same loop, the condensate suffers a global 2π phase slip, and the total angular momentum decreases by one quantum. In hydrodynamic regime, the instability sets in when the local superfluid velocity equals the sound speed inside the barrier region.