2026-07-072026-07-07http://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/220487We have developed an evaporative cooling technique that accelerates the circulation of an ultra-cold $^{87}$Rb gas, confined in a static harmonic potential. As a normal gas is evaporatively spun up and cooled below quantum degeneracy, it is found to nucleate vorticity in a Bose-Einstein condensate. Measurements of the condensate's aspect ratio and surface-wave excitations are consistent with effective rigid-body rotation. Rotation rates of up to 94% of the centrifugal limit are inferred. A threshold in the normal cloud's rotation is observed for the intrinsic nucleation of the first vortex. The threshold value lies below the prediction for a nucleation mechanism involving the excitation of surface-waves of the ground-state condensate.5 revtex pages, 3 embedded figuresSoft Condensed MatterStatistical MechanicsDriving Bose-Einstein condensate vorticity with a rotating normal cloudtext