In this paper we study a gaseous Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) and show
that: (i) A minimum value of the interaction is needed for the existence of
stable persistent currents. (ii) Vorticity is not a fundamental invariant of
the system, as there exists a conservative mechanism which can destroy a vortex
and change its sign. (iii) This mechanism is suppressed by strong interactions.Comment: 4 pages with 3 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let