Signatures of coherent vortex structures in a disordered two-dimensional quantum fluid

Reeves, M.T.; Billam, T.P.; Anderson, B.P.; Bradley, A.S.

Abstract

The emergence of coherent rotating structures is a phenomenon characteristic of both classical and quantum two-dimensional (2D) turbulence. In this work we show theoretically that the coherent vortex structures that emerge in decaying 2D quantum turbulence can approach quasiclassical rigid-body rotation, obeying the Feynman rule of constant average areal vortex density while remaining spatially disordered. By developing a rigorous link between the velocity probability distribution and the quantum kinetic energy spectrum over wave number k, we show that the coherent vortex structures are associated with a k3 power law in the infrared region of the spectrum, and a well-defined spectral peak that is a physical manifestation of the largest structures. We discuss the possibility of realizing coherent structures in Bose-Einstein condensate experiments and present Gross-Pitaevskii simulations showing that this phenomenon, and its associated spectral signatures, can emerge dynamically from feasible initial vortex configurations.

Citation

Reeves, M., Billam, T., Anderson, B., & Bradley, A. (2014). Signatures of coherent vortex structures in a disordered two-dimensional quantum fluid. Physical Review A, 89(5), https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.89.053631

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: May 30, 2014
• Deposit Date: Sep 11, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 19, 2014
• Journal: Physical Review A
• Print ISSN: 1050-2947
• Electronic ISSN: 1094-1622
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 89
• Issue: 5
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.89.053631
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1421037