PERSISTENT CURRENTS IN A TOROIDAL TRAP

Using elementary microscopic methods, we theoretically study persisten t flow of an alkali-metal vapor Bose-Einstein condensate around a tigh t toroidal trap. The angular velocity of a persistent current must be smaller than the angular frequency of the lowest condensate excitation . A supercurrent may be excited by rotating a perturbing potential tha t is strong enough to cut the toroidal condensate.