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arXiv:2510.24309 · Physical Review Research

Impurity-controlled vortex mobility and pair breaking in fermionic superfluid rings

Buğra Tüzemen, Andrea Barresi, Gabriel Wlazłowski, Piotr Magierski, Klejdja Xhani

Published Apr 25, 2026• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Using time-dependent density functional theory, we study how density and size of impurities govern dissipation of persistent currents of fermionic superfluid rings in the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer regime. The critical winding number for vortex emission increases with impurity density, but this enhancement is impurity size dependent and capped by the pair-breaking threshold. Below this vortex-emission threshold, the winding number remains constant while flow energy dissipates through impurity-enhanced pair breaking. Above the threshold, vortex-impurity interactions produce distinct mobility regimes—deflected trajectories, individual pinning, collective pinning, and intersite hopping, controlled by the impurity size and density, which determine the dominant dissipation channel. These findings provide design principles for ultracold-atom experiments and insights into vortex-pinning dynamics in neutron-star crusts and superconductors.

DOI
10.1103/6nhm-x2p9

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Using time-dependent density functional theory, we study how density and size of impurities govern dissipation of persistent currents of fermionic superfluid rings in the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer regime. The critical winding number for vortex emission increases with impurity density, but this enhancement is impurity size dependent and capped by the pair-breaking threshold. Below this vortex-emission threshold, the winding number remains constant while flow energy dissipates through impurity-enhanced pair breaking. Above the threshold, vortex-impurity interactions produce distinct mobility regimes—deflected trajectories, individual pinning, collective pinning, and intersite hopping, controlled by the impurity size and density, which determine the dominant dissipation channel. These findings provide design principles for ultracold-atom experiments and insights into vortex-pinning dynamics in neutron-star crusts and superconductors.
We investigate the stability of persistent currents in superfluid fermionic gases confined to a ring geometry. Our study, conducted at zero temperature using time-dependent density functional theory, cover interaction regimes from strong (unitary Fermi gas) to weak (Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer regime) couplings. Stability is tested against the presence of an external defect within the ring. The dissipation mechanism associated with vortex generation is present in all interaction regimes. Vortex emission is accompanied by Cooper pair breaking, which occurs even beyond the vortex core in the weakly interacting regime. The pair-breaking mechanism prevents the imprinting of a persistent current with a winding number above a threshold, which decreases as the system approach the BCS regime. Our study reveals the existence of two types of critical winding numbers above which currents cease to be persistent in Fermi superfluids: one related to the proliferation of quantum vortices and the other to the onset of the pair-breaking mechanism.
In a recent article, Kwon et al. [Nature (London) 600, 64 (2021)NATUAS0028-083610.1038/s41586-021-04047-4] revealed nonuniversal dissipative dynamics of quantum vortices in a fermionic superfluid. The enhancement of the dissipative process is pronounced for the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer interaction regime, and it was suggested that the effect is due to the presence of quasiparticles localized inside the vortex core. We test this hypothesis through numerical simulations with time-dependent density-functional theory: a fully microscopic framework with fermionic degrees of freedom. The results of fully microscopic calculations expose the impact of the vortex-bound states on dissipative dynamics in a fermionic superfluid. Their contribution is too weak to explain the experimental measurements, and we identify that thermal effects, giving rise to mutual friction between superfluid and the normal component, dominate the observed dynamics.
We combine numerical and experimental approaches to study how impurities affect the maximum superflow in an annular Bose-Einstein condensate. By tuning the impurity density, we achieve precise control over the stability of persistent currents which increases with the impurity number. In the unstable regime, the complex vortex motion within the impurity landscape, characterized by pinning and unpinning events, governs the timescale of the current decay and its final value. Our work establishes atomic superfluids as a pristine platform for exploring universal mechanisms of superflow stabilization and decay, paving the way for atomtronic quantum technologies.
We develop a method to extract the dissipation for a heavy moving impurity immersed in superfluid Fermi gases, which may serve as a theoretical model to explain relevant experiments. The drag force is derived analytically. As a reward, we are able to extract the density-density correlation function, from which density excitations of the system are carefully examined. We show that dissipations through drag force is associated with two types of excitations, one being single-particle and the other being collective. We map out the critical velocity for dissipation across the Bose-Einstein condensate-Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BEC-BCS) crossover, consistent with existing experiments. For a magnetic impurity, we show that the dissipation is immune to collective excitations. Our study clearly manifests that dissipation and associated excitations can be controlled by coupling superfluid Fermi gases with a moving impurity, and paves the way for further exploring the intriguing realm of nonequilibrium phenomena and dissipation dynamics.
In this thesis, we analytically and numerically study two different scenarios of vortex dynamics in a two-dimensional superfluid. The first system we explore is an expanding cluster of like-sign vortices, which recently suggested it could explain observations in a superfluid optomechanics experiment. We employ a recent theoretical model that approximates large collections of vortices as a fluid and present an analytic solution for its dynamics. Analysis suggests that as a cluster expands due to thermal friction, it forms a Rankine vortex (i.e., a top-hat distribution) that expands self-similarly in time regardless of initial vorticity distribution. Numerical simulations of point vortices confirm this universal expanding regime and further demonstrates vortex lattice formation that goes beyond the vortex fluid theory. We analyse correlations that emerge in the resulting lattices and observe decaying disorder as the cluster expands. Furthermore, we analyse experimental data from a quasi-two-dimensional 87Rb Bose-Einstein condensate, which supports the vortex fluid theory’s predictions.The second scenario considers the dynamics of a scattering event where a single quantum vortex interacts with a uniform, circular pinning potential in a steady two-dimensional superfluid flow. We first develop an approximate hydrodynamical model to understand the interaction between the vortex and the pinning potential in the conservative regime and find it is in good agreement with the mean-field Gross-Pitaevskii equation in the low-velocity limit. We further solve the Gross-Pitaevskii equation for higher background velocities to study how the vortex moves around pinning sites, interacts with it, and ultimately becomes pinned. We uncover four different regimes of vortex pinning, each marked with a characteristic emission of sound energy. Finally, we study how vortices become unpinned from a pinning site, revealing large vortex dipoles form to stabilise the system.Our work in this thesis takes significant steps towards advancing knowledge of both the collective dynamics of vortices and their individual interaction with defects upon surface substrates. Our numerical and analytical results opens up new avenues of exploration be it further understanding dissipation mechanisms in two-dimensional superfluids, or elucidating the nature of vortex pinning in systems such as neutron stars.
Vortex structures in dilute quantum fluids are studied using the time-independent Gross-Pitaevskii equation. The velocity and momentum of vortex rings with multiple circulation are determined and their core structures analysed. For flow around a spherical object, we study the encircling and pinned ring solutions, and determine their excitation energies as a function of velocity for both penetrable and impenetrable objects. The ring and laminar flow solutions converge at a critical velocity, which decreases with increasing object size. We also study the vortex solutions associated with flow past a surface bump which indicate that surface roughness also reduces the critical velocity. This effect may have important implications for the threshold of dissipation in superfluids and superconductors.