Anisotropic solitons in dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates

Starting with a Gaussian variational ansatz, we predict anisotropic bright solitons in quasi-2D Bose-Einstein condensates consisting of atoms with dipole moments polarized perpendicular to the confinement direction. Unlike isotropic solitons predicted for the moments aligned with the confinement axis [Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 200404 (2005)], no sign reversal of the dipole-dipole interaction is necessary to support the solitons. Direct 3D simulations confirm their stability.