We study vortex formation in a Bose-Einstein condensate in a rotating
double-well potential. Besides the ordinary quantized vortices and elusive
ghost vortices, "hidden" vortices are found distributing along the central
barrier. These hidden vortices are invisible like ghost vortex but carry
angular momentum. Moreover, their core size is not given by the healing length,
but is strongly influenced by the external potential. We find that the
Feynman's rule can be well satisfied only after including the hidden vortices.
There is no critical rotating frequency for the formation of hidden vortex
while there is one for the formation of ordinary visible vortices. Hidden
vortices can be revealed in the free expansion of the Bose-Einstein
condensates. In addition, the hidden vortices in a Bose-Einstein condensate can
appear in other external potentials, such as a rotating anisotropic toroidal
trap.Comment: 6pages,5figure
