The paper describes several features of vortex filaments in a weakly non-ideal Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) with a counterflow. The study focuses on a process of reconnection and equations of motion. A primary motivation of this study is a fact that quantum vortex dynamics for superfluid helium was obtained previously at a phenomenological level. But some critical problems can be solved through a study of a corresponding problem in BEC. By considering a vortex filament as a crossing line for surfaces where the real and imaginary parts of a macroscopic wave function ψ ( r , t ) turn into zero, we derived the equations of motion for a vortex filament. It is remarkable that the equation structure coincides completely with a structure of equation for vortex filament dynamics in superfluid helium that has been obtained from other (phenomenological) foundations.
The paper describes several features of vortex filaments in a weakly non-ideal Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) with a counterflow. The study focuses on a process of reconnection and equations of motion. A primary motivation of this study is a fact that quantum vortex dynamics for superfluid helium was obtained previously at a phenomenological level. But some critical problems can be solved through a study of a corresponding problem in BEC. By considering a vortex filament as a crossing line for surfaces where the real and imaginary parts of a macroscopic wave function ψ ( r , t ) turn into zero, we derived the equations of motion for a vortex filament. It is remarkable that the equation structure coincides completely with a structure of equation for vortex filament dynamics in superfluid helium that has been obtained from other (phenomenological) foundations.
The aim of this paper is to derive the equations of motion of quantum vortices in a weakly non-ideal Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) at finite temperatures and in the presence of macroscopic superfluid and normal velocities. The motivation for this work is that the dynamics of quantum vortices in superfluid helium has been studied at the phenomenological level, and a number of issues require clarification, which can be addressed by studying the corresponding problem in BEC. In BEC, quantum vortices are located at points where the macroscopic wave function (MWF) ψ(r,T), which describes the BEC dynamics, vanishes ψ(r,T)=0. The intersection of the surfaces Reψ(r,T)=0 and Imψ(r,T)=0 forms a one-dimensional line, which is just the quantum vortex line. During the evolution of the MWF, the position of the zero surfaces changes, that is, the vortex lines move. Conversely, the motion of these vortex filaments determines the evolution of the MWF. Thus, there is a mutual correspondence, and the quantity ψ(r,T) can be considered as a functional of the entire vortex configuration, i.e., {s(ξ,t)}. This viewpoint allows us to derive the equations of motion for vortices from the Gross–Pitaevskii equation (GPE), which describes the dynamics of MWF. The key finding is the confirmation that the equation derived from the fundamental quantum description (the GPE) for a BEC has the same mathematical structure as the equation derived from macroscopic, phenomenological reasoning for superfluid helium.
A statement of the quantum turbulence problem in both a Bose – Einstein condensate (BEC) and superfluid helium is formulated. In superfluid helium use is made of a so-called vortex filament method, in which quantum vortices are represented by string-like objects, i.e. vortex lines. The dynamics of the vortex lines is determined by deterministic equations of motion, supplemented by random reconnections. Unlike He II, the laws of the dynamics of quantum vortices in BEC are based on the nonlinear Schrödinger equation. This makes it possible to obtain a microscopic description of the collision of vortices, the structure of a vortex filament, etc. A comparative analysis of these complementary approaches is carried out. It is shown that there are some features that do not automatically transfer the results obtained for BEC to vortices in He II and vice versa.
Reconnections of coherent filamentary structures play a key role in the dynamics of fluids, redistributing energy and helicity among the length scales, triggering dissipative effects, and inducing fine-scale mixing. Unlike ordinary (classical) fluids where vorticity is a continuous field, in superfluid helium and in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) vorticity takes the form of isolated quantized vortex lines, which are conceptually easier to study. New experimental techniques now allow visualization of individual vortex reconnections in helium and condensates. It has long being suspected that reconnections obey universal laws, particularly a universal scaling with time of the minimum distance between vortices δ. Here we perform a comprehensive analysis of this scaling across a range of scenarios relevant to superfluid helium and trapped condensates, combining our own numerical simulations with the previous results in the literature. We reveal that the scaling exhibits two distinct fundamental regimes: a [Formula: see text] scaling arising from the mutual interaction of the reconnecting strands and a [Formula: see text] scaling when extrinsic factors drive the individual vortices.
Abstract Based on the theory of the thermodynamic equilibrium in a system of quantum vortices in superfluid liquids and in a Bose – Einstein condensate in the presence of a counterflow of normal and superfluid components, we investigate the structure of a chaotic tangle of quantum vortices in turbulent superfluid liquids. Using the characteristic functional method, the properties of hydrodynamic vortex filaments are examined. It is shown that the average curvature of the vortex lines is on the order of the intervortex distance, with the proportionality coefficient being independent of the counterflow velocity. It is found that the degree of anisotropy of the vortex loops does not depend on the applied counterflow velocity. The obtained results explain the origin of the anisotropy as well as the relationship between the curvature of the lines and the intervortex space and their dependence on the parameters of the problem.
Vortex reconnections and interactions play a fundamental role in the dynamics of fluids and turbulent flows, both in the classical and quantum regime. Studying vortices in a clean system like ultracold gases can therefore help, as a bottom-up approach, to understand the physics in a wider context, including superfluid helium, polariton condensates, fluid dynamics and turbulence, neutron stars and cosmological models. So far vortex-vortex interaction was studied in Bose-Einstein condensates either in rotating systems with the observation of regular Abrikosov lattices or in flat condensates across the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition. In both cases the geometrical constraints allowed to study just a planar interaction among aligned or anti-aligned vortices. The present study instead is carried out in an axisymmetric cigar-shaped Bose-Einstein condensate. Vortices in prolate structures are also known as solitonic vortices. This geometry is especially suitable for investigating vortex interactions. Indeed vortices are oriented perpendicularly to the condensate axis to minimize their length, hence energy, and, because of the cylindrical symmetry, the orientation of a vortex in the radial plane has no constraints. These facts permit interactions to occur with different incoming relative angles between the vortex lines and with different relative velocities. The strong confinement, acting along the radial axis, enhances also interesting effects due to the boundaries.
The equation of motion of a quantized vortex filament in a trapped Bose–Einstein condensate [A. A. Svidzinsky and A. L. Fetter, Phys. Rev. A 62, 063617 (2000)] has been generalized to the case of an arbitrary anharmonic anisotropic rotating trap and presented in the variational form. For condensate density profiles of the form ρ = f(x 2 + y 2 + ReΨ(x + iy)) in the presence of the plane of symmetry y = 0, the solutions x(z) describing stationary vortices of U and S types coming to the surface and solitary waves have been found in quadratures. Analogous three-dimensional configurations of the vortex filament uniformly moving along the z axis have also been found in strictly cylindrical geometry. The dependence of solutions on the form of the function f(q) has been analyzed.