Crow instability in trapped Bose-Einstein condensates

We show theoretically that elongated vortex-antivortex dipoles can be created controllably in trapped Bose-Einstein condensates, using known experimental techniques. Vortex dipoles of sufficient length are unstable and cascade into slow vortex rings which ultimately decay via sound emission. This instability of antiparallel vortex line elements, which self-generates Kelvin waves on vortex loops in trapped atomic gases, may play a role in bridging the Kelvin-wave and Kolmogorov-Richardson cascades of quantum turbulence.