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arXiv:1510.01895 · Physical Review A

Critical velocity for vortex nucleation in a finite-temperature Bose gas

G. W. Stagg, R. W. Pattinson, C. F. Barenghi, Nicholas G. Parker

Published Feb 24, 2016• 14 citations
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Abstract

We use classical field simulations of the homogeneous Bose gas to study the breakdown of superflow due to vortex nucleation past a cylindrical obstacle at finite temperature. Thermal fluctuations modify the vortex nucleation from the obstacle, turning antiparallel vortex lines (which would be nucleated at zero temperature) into wiggly lines, vortex rings, and even vortex tangles. We find that the critical velocity for vortex nucleation decreases with increasing temperature and scales with the speed of sound of the condensate, becoming zero at the critical temperature for condensation.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.93.023640

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We use classical field simulations of the homogeneous Bose gas to study the breakdown of superflow due to vortex nucleation past a cylindrical obstacle at finite temperature. Thermal fluctuations modify the vortex nucleation from the obstacle, turning antiparallel vortex lines (which would be nucleated at zero temperature) into wiggly lines, vortex rings, and even vortex tangles. We find that the critical velocity for vortex nucleation decreases with increasing temperature and scales with the speed of sound of the condensate, becoming zero at the critical temperature for condensation.
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We study the flow of a spinor (F=1)(F=1)(F=1) Bose-Einstein condensate in the presence of an obstacle. We consider the cases of ferromagnetic and polar spin-dependent interactions, and find that the system demonstrates two speeds of sound that are identified analytically. Numerical simulations reveal the nucleation of macroscopic nonlinear structures, such as dark solitons and vortex-antivortex pairs, as well as vortex rings in one- and higher-dimensional settings, respectively, when a localized defect (e.g., a blue-detuned laser beam) is dragged through the spinor condensate at a speed larger than the second critical speed.
The surface mode spectrum is computed self-consistently for dilute Bose-Einstein condensates, providing the temperature dependence of the surface-mode-induced vortex nucleation frequency. Both the thermodynamic critical frequency for vortex stability and the nucleation frequency implied by the surface excitations increase as the critical condensation temperature is approached from below. The multipolarity of the destabilizing surface excitation decreases with increasing temperature. The computed finite-temperature critical frequencies support the experimental observations and the zero-temperature calculations for vortex nucleation.
Superfluid flow past a potential barrier is a well studied problem in ultracold Bose gases, however, fewer studies have considered the case of flow through a disordered potential. Here we consider the case of a superfluid flowing through a channel containing multiple point-like barriers, randomly placed to form a disordered potential. We begin by identifying the relationship between the relative position of two point-like barriers and the critical velocity of such an arrangement. We then show that there is a mapping between the critical velocity of a system with two obstacles, and a system with a large number of obstacles. By establishing an initial superflow through a point-like disordered potential, moving faster than the critical velocity, we study how the superflow is arrested through the nucleation of vortices and the breakdown of superfluidity, a problem with interesting connections to quantum turbulence and coarsening. We calculate the vortex decay rate as the width of the barriers is increased, and show that vortex pinning becomes a more important effect for these larger barriers. Published by the American Physical Society 2024