The Madelung equations offer a hydrodynamic description of quantum systems, from single particles to quantum fluids. In this formulation, the probability density is mapped onto the fluid density and the phase is treated as a scalar potential generating the velocity field. As examples of potential flows, quantum fluids described in this way are inherently irrotational, but quantum vortices may arise at discrete points where the phase is undefined. In this paper, starting from this irrotational description of a quantum fluid, a coarse-graining procedure is applied to arrive at a macroscopic description of the quantum fluid in terms of a hierarchy of moments in which the role of velocity is played by a Favre average of the microscopic velocity field. This hierarchy is truncated using an explicit closure derived from an expansion in a finite length scale. The resulting coarse-grained fields are shown to allow for finite vorticity at any point in the fluid. Furthermore, it is shown that this vorticity obeys a similar equation to the vorticity equation in classical hydrodynamics and includes a vortex-stretching term. The particular closure employed here also gives rise to a novel stress term in the fluid equations, which in the appropriate limit appears analogous to an artificial viscous stress from computational fluid dynamics.
The Madelung equations offer a hydrodynamic description of quantum systems, from single particles to quantum fluids. In this formulation, the probability density is mapped onto the fluid density and the phase is treated as a scalar potential generating the velocity field. As examples of potential flows, quantum fluids described in this way are inherently irrotational, but quantum vortices may arise at discrete points where the phase is undefined. In this paper, starting from this irrotational description of a quantum fluid, a coarse-graining procedure is applied to arrive at a macroscopic description of the quantum fluid in terms of a hierarchy of moments in which the role of velocity is played by a Favre average of the microscopic velocity field. This hierarchy is truncated using an explicit closure derived from an expansion in a finite length scale. The resulting coarse-grained fields are shown to allow for finite vorticity at any point in the fluid. Furthermore, it is shown that this vorticity obeys a similar equation to the vorticity equation in classical hydrodynamics and includes a vortex-stretching term. The particular closure employed here also gives rise to a novel stress term in the fluid equations, which in the appropriate limit appears analogous to an artificial viscous stress from computational fluid dynamics.
This PhD thesis is submitted as a \emph{compendium} of the articles \cite{NS, holographic, topological}. The following has been adapted from their abstracts. Quantum mechanics has been argued to be a coarse--graining of some underlying deterministic theory. Here we support this view by establishing mappings between non-relativistic quantum mechanics and thermodynamic theories, since the latter are the paradigm of an emergent theory. First, we map certain solutions of the Schroedinger equation to solutions of the irrotational Navier--Stokes equation for viscous fluid flow. Although this is formally a generalization of Madelung's hydrodynamical interpretation, the presence of a viscous term leads to a novel interpretation. As a physical model for the fluid itself we propose the quantum probability fluid. It turns out that the (state--dependent) viscosity of this fluid is proportional to Planck's constant, while the volume density of entropy is proportional to Boltzmann's constant. Stationary states have zero viscosity and a vanishing time rate of entropy density. On the other hand, the nonzero viscosity of nonstationary states provides an information--loss mechanism whereby a deterministic theory (a classical fluid governed by the Navier--Stokes equation) gives rise to an emergent theory (a quantum particle governed by the Schroedinger equation). Then, we present a map of standard quantum mechanics onto classical thermodynamics of irreversible processes. In particular, the propagators of the quantum harmonic oscillator are mapped to the conditional probabilities that solve the Chapman-Kolmogorov equation for Markovian Gaussian processes. While no gravity is present in our construction, our map exhibits features that are reminiscent of the holographic principle of quantum gravity. Finally, the classical thermostatics of equilibrium processes is shown to possess a quantum mechanical dual theory with a finite dimensional Hilbert space of quantum states. Specifically, the kernel of a certain Hamiltonian operator becomes the Hilbert space of quasistatic quantum mechanics. The relation of thermostatics to topological field theory is also discussed in the context of the approach of emergence of quantum theory, where the concept of entropy plays a key role.
We show that in two dimensional superfluids a large number of quantum vortices with positive and negative circulations behave as an inviscid fluid on large scales. Two hydrodynamical velocities are introduced to describe this emergent binary vortex fluid, via vortex number current and vortex change current. The velocity field associated with the vortex number current evolves according to a hydrodynamic equation, subject to an anomalous stress absent from Euler's equation. In contrast to the chiral vortex fluid containing only like-sign vortices, the binary vortex fluid is compressible and the orbital angular momentum is not conserved, as characterized by an asymmetric Cauchy stress tensor. Dissipation effects due to thermal friction and vortex-sound interactions induce an effective damping rate, an anomalous viscous stress tensor, and a coefficient of second viscosity.
Geometric quantum hydrodynamics merges geometric hydrodynamics with quantum hydrodynamics to study the geometric properties of vortex structures in superfluid states of matter. Here the vortex line acts as the fundamental building block and is a topological defect of the fluid medium about which the otherwise irrotational fluid circulates. In this thesis, we show that except for the simplest fluid flows, a vortex line seeks to decompose localized regions of curvature into helical configurations. The simplest flow, known as the local induction approximation, is also an integrable one. Integrability makes the transfer of energy into helical modes impossible. In the following, we demonstrate that any arclength conserving correction to this approximation defines a non-Hamiltonian evolution of the vortex geometry, which is capable of supporting dissipative solitons and helical wavefronts. Quantum turbulence in ultracold vortex tangles relies on energy transfer between helical or Kelvin modes to decay. Thus, models of vortex lines beyond the lowest order integrable cases are vitally important to our mathematical description of free decay of turbulent tangles. To motivate the results of this thesis we connect our theory of vortex line dynamics to continuum fluid mechanics. The Navier-Stokes equations are a statement of momentum balance for a fluid whose response to shear stress is proportional to the fluid's velocity gradients. Building off of Onsager's rather obscure work in fluid turbulence, others have shown that solutions to Navier-Stokes limit to Euler evolutions of distributional velocity profiles for large Reynolds number. Using this as our context, we show that the Euler equation can be transformed, in an inverse Madelung sense, to the Gross-Pitaevskii equation associated with the mean-field quantum dynamics of a dilute Bose gas. This theory predicts that an irrotational fluid is capable of circulating around regions of density depletion known as vortex lines. Furthermore, if a vortex line is used as the ansatz for the Gross-Pitaevskii equation then it is possible to show that the Biot-Savart integral over the vortex source results. This connection between the vortex line geometry and the induced velocity field provides the basis for the application of geometric quantum hydrodynamics to Bose-Einstein condensates. If the Biot-Savart integral is the basis of geometric quantum hydrodynamics, then Hasimoto's transformation is the structure built on top. The fundamental theorem of space curves states that up to rotations and translations, a curve is defined by its curvature and torsion. Through the Hasimoto transformation, it is possible to map flows defined by the Biot-Savart integral to scalar partial differential equations evolving the curvature and torsion of a vortex line. In this thesis, we conduct an asymptotic expansion of the Biot-Savart integral and apply the Hasimoto transformation to show that vortex lines prefer to relax curved abnormalities through the excitation of helical waves along the vortex. Thus, our…
The universe is a structured nonlinear fluid operating at a finite spectral resolution. Its electrodynamics are inherently advective, its elementary particles are singular topological defects dressed into smoothing kernels by the strict N = 861 band limit, and its quantum mechanics are the exact, mathematically proven Madelung image of its coarse-grained osmotic flow.The Schrödinger equation is explicitly derived, not postulated: the subgrid stress of the finite lattice evaluates exactly to the Bohm quantum pressure. The Planck constant is derived from first principles as the lattice's phase-locking action, scaling purely off the 77.48 J/m line tension, the −1/12 topological residue, and the 861 mode count. Probability is simply coarse-grained fluid density; uncertainty is just finite geometric resolution. By directly solving the internal subgrid Reynolds stress and the first-principles locking action, all theoretical gaps are closed. The reduction of quantum mechanics and standard model mass parameters to deterministic, topological hydrodynamics is complete.
I present a unified theoretical and numerical framework that couples quantum wave dynamics (Schrödinger) with classical viscous flow (Navier–Stokes) through an emergent quantum-π field (π_q) that encodes phase-topology and coherence. The model reproduces Schrödinger dynamics in the conservative limit, Navier–Stokes turbulence in the dissipative limit, and novel intermediate regimes where quantum coherence and fluid turbulence coexist and interact. I derive the governing equations by (i) applying a Madelung decomposition to a complex field ψ, (ii) introducing a controlled viscous regularization and non-linear coupling terms, and (iii) coupling a dynamically evolving π_q scalar (or tensor) field that modulates local coherence, effective mass, and information flux. I then present a robust hybrid numerical method (QHFVM — Quantum Hydrodynamic Finite-Volume Method) combining split-step spectral propagation for dispersive quantum terms and conservative finite-volume solvers for advective, viscous and pressure dynamics. I validate the approach on a set of canonical problems (quantum vortex shedding in a viscous background, π-phase revival in confined geometries, and turbulence spectra with quantum corrections), show numerical convergence and conservation properties, and outline applications spanning quantum fluids, nanoscale bio-fluids, materials, and hybrid QEC architectures. Flash explanations highlight intuition and immediate experimental tests.
We develop a neutral vortex fluid theory on closed surfaces with zero genus. The theory describes collective dynamics of many well-separated quantum vortices in a superfluid confined on a closed surface. Comparing to the case on a plane, the covariant vortex fluid equation on a curved surface contains an additional term proportional to Gaussian curvature multiplying the circulation quantum. This term describes the coupling between topological defects and curvature in the macroscopic level. For a sphere, the simplest nontrivial stationary vortex flow is obtained analytically and this flow is analogous to the celebrated zonal Rossby-Haurwitz wave in classical fluids on a nonrotating sphere. For this flow the difference between the coarse-grained vortex velocity field and the fluid velocity field generated by vortices is solely driven by curvature and vanishes in the corresponding vortex flow on a plane when the radius of the sphere goes to infinity. Published by the American Physical Society 2024