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Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics

Effect of condensate depletion on the critical velocity for vortex nucleation in quantum fluids

M. L. Leadbeater, T. Winiecki, Charles S. Adams

Published Mar 27, 2003• 11 citations
Publisher

Abstract

By performing numerical simulations of object motion through homogeneous dilute quantum fluids, we show that the critical velocity for vortex formation at constant average superfluid density depends on the condensate fraction. We suggest that the lower critical velocity at lower condensate fraction is due to transitions between the no-vortex and vortex states driven by density fluctuations.

DOI
10.1088/0953-4075/36/8/101

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By performing numerical simulations of object motion through homogeneous dilute quantum fluids, we show that the critical velocity for vortex formation at constant average superfluid density depends on the condensate fraction. We suggest that the lower critical velocity at lower condensate fraction is due to transitions between the no-vortex and vortex states driven by density fluctuations.
We investigate theoretically and numerically a model of a supersolid in a dipole-blockaded Bose-Einstein condensate. The dependence of the superfluid fraction with an imposed thermal bath and a uniform boost velocity on the condensate is considered. Specifically, we observe a critical velocity for the nucleation of vortices in our system that is strongly linked to a steplike decrease in the superfluid fraction. We are able to use a scaling argument based on the energy required to activate a vortex, relating the critical temperature to the critical velocity, and find that this relationship is in good agreement with the numerical simulations carried out on the nonlocal Gross-Pitaevskii equation.
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.
This thesis examines the manifestation of the critical velocity for superfluidity in dilute gas Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). Superfluidity is a macroscopic quantum phenomenon characterised by unique properties such as frictionless flow, high thermal conductivity and the presence of quantised vortices. Our study focuses on what is arguably the most well-known attribute: the ability for an object to move through a superfluid without experiencing a drag force when travelling below a threshold critical velocity.The Landau criterion for superfluidity predicts the critical velocity in a BEC is equal to the speed of sound, and this conclusion is supported by a large body of theoretical work. However, a number of experiments have observed lower critical velocities than theory predicts. In the first part of this thesis, we numerically model experiments on the superfluid critical velocity of an elongated, harmonically trapped Bose-Einstein condensate as reported by [P. Engels and C. Atherton, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 160405 (2007)]. These experiments swept a repulsive obstacle, formed by a optical dipole potential, through the long axis of a condensate at constant velocity. Their results found an increase in the resulting density fluctuations of the condensate above an obstacle velocity of v _ 0:3 mm s
The Bose condensate model is used to elucidate the motion of the electron bubble in superfluids. An asymptotic expansion is developed for steady subcritical flow. Numerical integration of the coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations, that describe the evolution of the wavefunctions of the Bose condensate and the impurity, is used to study the nucleation and capture of vortex rings. Because an electron bubble is made oblate by its motion relative to the condensate, the critical velocity for the vortex nucleation is reduced by about 20%, in agreement with experiments.