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arXiv:2403.06226 · Journal of Low Temperature Physics

Drag on Cylinders Moving in Superfluid $$^3$$He-B as the Dimension Spans the Coherence Length

S. Autti, R. P. Haley, A. Jennings, G. R. Pickett, E. V. Surovtsev, V. Tsepelin, D. E. Zmeev

Published Jun 15, 2024• 1 citation
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Abstract

Abstract Vibrating probes when immersed in a fluid can provide powerful tools for characterising the surrounding medium. In superfluid $$^3$$ 3 He-B, a condensate of Cooper pairs, the dissipation arising from the scattering of quasiparticle excitations from a mechanical oscillator provides the basis of extremely sensitive thermometry and bolometry at sub-millikelvin temperatures. The unique properties of the Andreev reflection process in this condensate also assist by providing a significantly enhanced dissipation. While existing models for such damping on an oscillating cylinder have been verified experimentally, they are valid only for flows with scales much greater than the coherence length of $$^3$$ 3 He, which is of the order of a hundred nanometres. With our increasing proficiency in fabricating nanosized oscillators, which can be readily used in this superfluid, there is a pressing need for the development of new models that account for the modification of the flow around these smaller oscillators. Here we report preliminary results on measurements of the damping in superfluid $$^3$$ 3 He-B of a range of cylindrical nanosized oscillators with radii comparable to the coherence length and outline a model for calculating the associated drag.

DOI
10.1007/s10909-024-03165-3

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It has been proposed in recent years that an impurity moving in a superfluid will experience drag forces even below the Landau critical velocity [1–3]. Quantum fluctuations that are present in superfluid systems at zero temperature can scatter from impurities present in the fluid. If the impurity is moving, there will be an asymmetric Doppler shift associated with the scattered waves, which will result in a net drag force. This challenges the long-accepted notion of dissipationless flow in superfluids. Analytical estimates of this drag force in superfluid Bose-Einstein condensates using Bogoliubov methods have found a non-zero drag force, resulting from the most sensible choice of boundary conditions in an infinite system. Through stochastic simulations of the 1D Bose gas under the truncated Wigner formalism, we verify the existence of this sub-critical drag force and quantify the drag forces present. We will also determine whether dissipationless flow can be recovered in finite sized systems.
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