Numerical Study of the stability of Skyrmions in Bose-Einstein   Condensates
  We show that the stability of three-dimensional Skyrmions in trapped Bose-Einstein condensates depends critically on scattering lengths, atom numbers, trap rotation and trap anisotropy. In particular, for the $^{87}$Rb $|F=1,m_{f}=-1>$, $|F=2,m_{f}=1>$ hyperfine states stability is sensitive to the scattering lengths at the level of their present experimental uncertainties. In a cigar shaped trap, we find stable Skyrmions with as few as $2\times10^{6}$ atoms, a number which scales with the inverse square root of the trap frequency. These can be stabilized against drift out of the trap by laser pinning. 
S. Wuester, T.E. Argue and C.M. Savage