Onsager vortex formation in Bose-Einstein condensates in two-dimensional power-law traps

We study computationally dynamics of quantized vortices in two-dimensional superfluid Bose-Einstein condensates confined in highly oblate power-law traps. We have found that the formation of large-scale Onsager vortex clusters prevalent in steep-walled traps is suppressed in condensates confined by harmonic potentials. However, the shape of the trapping potential does not appear to adversely affect the evaporative heating efficiency of the vortex gas. Instead, the suppression of Onsager vortex formation in harmonic traps can be understood in terms of the energy of the vortex configurations. Furthermore, we find that the vortex-antivortex pair annihilation that underpins the vortex evaporative heating mechanism requires the interaction of at least three vortices. We conclude that experimental observation of Onsager vortices should be the most apparent in flat or inverted-bottom traps.