Formation of Vortex Lattices in Superfluid Bose Gases at Finite Temperatures.

We study the dynamics of a rotating trapped Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) at finite temperatures. Using the Zaremba-Nikuni-Griffin formalism, based on a generalized Gross-Pitaevskii equation for the condensate coupled to a semiclassical kinetic equation for a thermal cloud, we numerically simulate vortex lattice formation in the presence of a time-dependent rotating trap potential. At low rotation frequency, the thermal cloud undergoes rigid body rotation, while the condensate exhibits irrotational flow. Above a certain threshold rotation frequency, vortices penetrate into the condensate and form a vortex lattice. Our simulation result clearly indicates a crucial role for the thermal cloud, which triggers vortex lattice formation in the rotating BEC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]