Motion of an Impurity in a Bose-Einstein Condensate with Weyl Spin-Orbit Coupling: Non-collinear Drag Force and Anisotropic Critical Velocity

Abstract

We consider the motion of a point-like impurity through a three-dimensional two-component Bose-Einstein condensate subject to Weyl spin-orbit coupling. Using linear-response theory, we calculate the drag force felt by the impurity and the associated anisotropic critical velocity from the spectrum of elementary excitations. The drag force is shown to be generally not collinear with the velocity of the impurity. This unusual behavior is a consequence of condensation into a finite-momentum state due to the spin-orbit coupling.