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arXiv:2506.22683 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Depletion of superfluid density: Universal low-temperature thermodynamics of superfluids

Viktor Berger, Nikolay V. Prokof'ev, Boris V. Svistunov

Published Feb 12, 2026• 1 citation
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Abstract

In a Galilean superfluid, the depletion of superfluid density with rising temperature can be attributed to thermally excited non-interacting phonons. For systems without Galilean symmetry, it has been shown [1] that ``phonon wind" is no longer responsible for the depletion of superfluid density. In this work, we develop the theory of superfluid density at low temperature ($T$) and provide detailed derivations of all results announced in [1]. Using Popov's hydrodynamic action, we show that the theory of low-temperature depletion in a $d$-dimensional quantum superfluid maps onto the problem of finite-size ($L$) corrections in a $(d+1)$-dimensional anisotropic (pseudo-)classical-field system with U(1)-symmetric complex-valued action. In addition to generalizing Landau's (canonical) formula, we develop the grand canonical theory, which in a broader context reveals a universal scaling, $T^{d+1}$ and $1/L^{d+1}$, for finite-$T$ and finite-$L$ effects of many thermodynamic quantities. We validate our theory with numeric simulations of interacting lattice bosons and the J-current model.

DOI
10.1103/nr9h-qj5h

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In a Galilean superfluid, the depletion of superfluid density with rising temperature can be attributed to thermally excited non-interacting phonons. For systems without Galilean symmetry, it has been shown [1] that ``phonon wind" is no longer responsible for the depletion of superfluid density. In this work, we develop the theory of superfluid density at low temperature (TTT) and provide detailed derivations of all results announced in [1]. Using Popov's hydrodynamic action, we show that the theory of low-temperature depletion in a ddd-dimensional quantum superfluid maps onto the problem of finite-size (LLL) corrections in a (d+1)(d+1)(d+1)-dimensional anisotropic (pseudo-)classical-field system with U(1)-symmetric complex-valued action. In addition to generalizing Landau's (canonical) formula, we develop the grand canonical theory, which in a broader context reveals a universal scaling, Td+1T^{d+1}Td+1 and 1/Ld+11/L^{d+1}1/Ld+1, for finite-TTT and finite-LLL effects of many thermodynamic quantities. We validate our theory with numeric simulations of interacting lattice bosons and the J-current model.
The Landau theory of superfluidity associates the low-temperature flow of the normal component with the phonon wind. This picture does not apply to superfluids in which Galilean invariance is broken either by disorder, porous media, or lattice potential, and the phonon wind is no longer solely responsible for depletion of the superfluid component. Based on Popov's hydrodynamic action with anharmonic terms, we present a general theory for low-temperature (T) dependence of the superfluid stiffness, which reproduces the Landau result as a special case when several parameters of the hydrodynamic action are fixed by Galilean invariance. We validate our theory with numerical simulations of interacting lattice bosons. In a broader context, our approach reveals universal low-temperature thermodynamics of superfluids with an intrinsic connection between finite-T and finite-size (L) effects implying universal scaling, T^{d+1} and 1/L^{d+1}, respectively, for a large class of thermodynamic quantities. We discuss the experimental detection of this law, and compare our prediction to the existing literature.
Creation and annihilation operators of quasi-particles are introduced into the description of a finite temperature system of degenerate bosons with the aid of a canonical transformation which generalizes the one due to Bogoliubov. A variational calculation taking into account the interaction between non-zero momentum particles shows that the quasi-particles are phonons in the long wave-length limit. The state of the system, which is approximated by the grand canonical ensemble of the quasi-particles, approaches the Hartree-Fock state when the condensate is depleted completely at the critical temperature.
In this work, we study the linear stability of superfluid phases of matter irrespective of the nature of microscopic degrees of freedom and the strength of interactions between them. Famously, assuming invariance under Galilean boosts and a phonon-roton single-particle dispersion relation, Landau predicted superfluid helium 4 would become unstable for large enough superfluid velocities. Here, we demonstrate that such instabilities generically follow from a change of sign of one of the eigenvalues of the matrix of second derivatives of the free energy. Our only assumption is the existence of static thermodynamic equilibrium, irrespective of any invariance under boosts or microscopic statistics. Turning on dissipation, we show that a linear dynamical instability also develops, leading to exponential growth in time of perturbations around equilibrium. Specializing to Galilean superfluids and assuming the existence of bosonic quasiparticles, our criterion reproduces Landau's critical velocity for Bose-Einstein condensates. Our criterion also reduces to the well-known maximal supercurrent in weakly coupled superconductors described either by Landau-Ginzburg or Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory. Further, it correctly reproduces the onset of the instability in relativistic, strongly coupled superfluids without quasiparticles at zero as well as finite temperature, which we construct using gauge/gravity duality. As a less trivial application of our criterion, we show that in dirty superfluids the instability manifests itself first in the thermal diffusion mode instead of the superfluid sound mode. Our work provides a simple, comprehensive, and unified description of the large superflow instability of superfluids and superconductors at any temperature independent of the microscopic details of the system and the strength of interactions.
The total momentum of NNN interacting bosons or fermions in a cube equipped with periodic boundary conditions is a conserved quantity. Its eigenvalues follow a probability distribution, determined by the thermal equilibrium state. While in non-interacting systems the distribution is normal with variance ∼N\sim N∼N, interaction couples the single-particle momenta, so that the distribution of their sum is unpredictable, except for some implications of Galilean invariance. First, we present these implications which are strong in 1D, moderately strong in 2D, and weak in 3D. Then, we speculate about the possible form of the distribution in fluids, crystals, and superfluids. The existence of phonons suggests that the total momentum can remain finite when N→∞N\to\inftyN→∞. We argue that in fluids the finite momenta distribute continuously, but their integrated probability is smaller than 1, because the momentum can also tend to infinity with NNN. In the fluid-crystal transition we expect that the total momentum becomes finite with full probability and distributed over a lattice, and that in the fluid-superfluid transition a delta peak appears only at zero total momentum. Based on this picture, we discuss the superfluid flow in both the frictionless and the dissipative cases, and derive a temperature-dependent critical velocity. Finally, we show that Landau's criterion for excitations in moving superfluids is an in some cases correct result of an erroneous derivation.
Using a nonperturbative renormalization-group technique, we compute the momentum and frequency dependence of the anomalous self-energy and the one-particle spectral function of two-dimensional interacting bosons at zero temperature. Below a characteristic momentum scale k_{G}, where the Bogoliubov approximation breaks down, the anomalous self-energy develops a square-root singularity and the Goldstone mode of the superfluid phase (Bogoliubov sound mode) coexists with a continuum of excitations, in agreement with the predictions of Popov's hydrodynamic theory. Thus our results provide a unified picture of superfluidity in interacting boson systems and connect Bogoliubov's theory (valid for momenta larger than k_{G}) to Popov's hydrodynamic approach.
The detailed understanding of the intricate dynamics of quantum fluids, in particular in the rapidly growing subfield of quantum turbulence which elucidates the evolution of a vortex tangle in a superfluid, requires an in-depth understanding of the role of finite temperature in such systems. The Landau two-fluid model is the most successful hydrodynamical theory of superfluid helium, but by the nature of the scale separations it cannot give an adequate description of the processes involving vortex dynamics and interactions. In our contribution we introduce a framework based on a nonlinear classical-field equation that is mathematically identical to the Landau model and provides a mechanism for severing and coalescence of vortex lines, so that the questions related to the behavior of quantized vortices can be addressed self-consistently. The correct equation of state as well as nonlocality of interactions that leads to the existence of the roton minimum can also be introduced in such description. We review and apply the ideas developed for finite-temperature description of weakly interacting Bose gases as possible extensions and numerical refinements of the proposed method. We apply this method to elucidate the behavior of the vortices during expansion and contraction following the change in applied pressure. We show that at low temperatures, during the contraction of the vortex core as the negative pressure grows back to positive values, the vortex line density grows through a mechanism of vortex multiplication. This mechanism is suppressed at high temperatures.