Ground states of spin-2 condensates in an external magnetic field

The possible ground states of spin-2 Bose-Einstein condensates in an external magnetic field are obtained analytically and classified systematically according to the population of the condensed atoms at the hyperfine sublevels. It is shown that the atoms can populate simultaneously at four hyperfine sublevels in a weak magnetic field with only the linear Zeeman energy, in contrast to that in a stronger magnetic field with the quadratic Zeeman energy, where condensed atoms can at most populate at three hyperfine sublevels in the ground states. Any spin configuration we obtained will give a closed subspace in the order parameter space of the condensates.