Guiding-center dynamics of vortex dipoles in Bose-Einstein condensates

A quantized vortex dipole is the simplest vortex molecule, comprising two countercirculating vortex lines in a superfluid. Although vortex dipoles are endemic in two-dimensional superfluids, the precise details of their dynamics have remained largely unexplored. We present here several striking observations of vortex dipoles in dilute-gas Bose-Einstein condensates, and develop a vortex-particle model that generates vortex line trajectories that are in good agreement with the experimental data. Interestingly, these diverse trajectories exhibit essentially identical quasiperiodic behavior, in which the vortex lines undergo stable epicyclic orbits.