Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Vortex reconnections and rebounds in trapped atomic Bose-Einstein condensates

Simone Serafini, Luca Galantucci, Elena Iseni, T Bienaime, R. N. Bisset, Carlo Barenghi, F. Dalfovo, Giacomo Lamporesi, G Ferrari

Published May 25, 2017• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Reconnections and interactions of filamentary coherent structures play a fundamental role in the dynamics of fluids,redistributing energy and helicity among the length scales and inducing fine-scale turbulent mixing. Unlike ordinary fluids, where vorticity is a continuous field, in quantum fluids vorticity is concentrated into discrete (quantized) vortex lines turning vortex reconnections into isolated events, conceptually easier to study. Here we report experimental and numerical observations of three-dimensional quantum vortex interactions in a cigar-shaped atomic Bose--Einstein Condensate. In addition to standard reconnections, already numerically and experimentally observed in homogeneous systems away from boundaries, we show that double reconnections, rebounds and ejections can also occur as a consequence of the non-homogeneous, confined nature of the system.

DOI
10.25405/ncl.34312674

Related papers

Crossover from interaction to driven regimes in quantum vortex reconnections

Luca Galantucci, Andrew William Baggaley, Nick G. Parker +1 more

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.

arXiv:1812.00473•Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences•Jun 6, 2019•43 citations

Dynamics of Vortices and their Interactions in Bose-Einstein Condensates

Simone Serafini

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.

•Jan 1, 2017•0 citations

Crossover from interaction to driven regimes in quantum vortex reconnections

Luca Galantucci, Andrew William Baggaley, Nicholas G. Parker +1 more

Vortex reconnections are fundamental events in fluid motion, randomizing the velocity field, changing the topology, and redistributing energy across length scales. In superfluid helium and atomic Bose–Einstein condensates, vortices are effectively one-dimensional lines called quantum vortices (akin to minitornadoes of a fixed strength). Individual reconnections happen when two vortices collide and subsequently recoil, exchanging heads and tails. Recent experimental progress opens the possibility of answering the important question as to whether reconnections obey a universal behavior. Here we show that the intervortex distance between reconnecting vortices obeys two fundamental scaling laws, which we identify in experimental data and numerical simulations, across homogeneous superfluids and trapped condensates.

•Jun 18, 2019•0 citations

Vortex Reconnections and Rebounds in Trapped Atomic Bose-Einstein Condensates

Simone Serafini, Luca Galantucci, Elena Iseni +6 more

Understanding interactions between filamentary structures could offer important insights into the dynamics of a wide range of physical systems. A new imaging technique reveals novel vortex filament interactions in a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) and helps establish BECs as a powerful laboratory for investigating filament dynamics.

arXiv:1611.01691•Physical Review X•May 25, 2017•73 citations

Interactions and reconnections of four-dimensional quantum vortices

H. A. J. Middleton-Spencer, Ben McCanna, Davide Proment +1 more

Interactions and reconnections of vortices are fundamental in many areas of physics, including classical and quantum fluids where they are central to understanding phenomena such as turbulence. In three-dimensional (3D) superfluids, quantum vortices are one-dimensional filaments that can intersect, reconnect, and recoil with irreversible dynamics described by near-universal scaling laws. We explore quantum-vortex reconnections in a four-dimensional superfluid, where a vortex is a two-dimensional surface. Using real-time numerical simulations, we find much richer behavior than in 3D, including stable intersecting vortex surfaces which do not reconnect, and unusual vortex reconnections which occur without significant energy dissipation, which may indicate quasireversible dynamics. Our work raises many interesting questions about vortex physics in extradimensional systems and may be further extended to look at vortex dynamics and turbulence in higher-dimensional spaces.

arXiv:2411.07943•Physical Review Fluids•Jul 13, 2026•0 citations

Vortex reconnections in atomic condensates at finite temperature

A. J. Allen, Simone Zuccher, M. Caliari +3 more

At finite temperatures, the motion of topological defects (such as solitons or vortices) in trapped atomic Bose-Einstein condensates is affected by the presence of an inhomogeneous cloud of thermal atoms. Recent interest in quantum turbulence leads us to investigate the temperature dependence of vortex reconnections - events which are essential ingredients of turbulence. Using the Zaremba-Nikuni-Griffin (ZNG) formalism based on a dissipative Gross-Pitaevskii equation for the condensate coupled to a semiclassical Boltzmann equation for the thermal cloud, we find that, on the typical length scales and time scales of atomic condensates, vortex reconnections are temperature independent. Furthermore, comparison to vortex reconnections in homogeneous condensates show reconnections to be insensitive to inhomogeneity in the background density.

•Jul 2, 2014•0 citations
Reconnections and interactions of filamentary coherent structures play a fundamental role in the dynamics of fluids,redistributing energy and helicity among the length scales and inducing fine-scale turbulent mixing. Unlike ordinary fluids, where vorticity is a continuous field, in quantum fluids vorticity is concentrated into discrete (quantized) vortex lines turning vortex reconnections into isolated events, conceptually easier to study. Here we report experimental and numerical observations of three-dimensional quantum vortex interactions in a cigar-shaped atomic Bose--Einstein Condensate. In addition to standard reconnections, already numerically and experimentally observed in homogeneous systems away from boundaries, we show that double reconnections, rebounds and ejections can also occur as a consequence of the non-homogeneous, confined nature of the system.
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.
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.
Vortex reconnections are fundamental events in fluid motion, randomizing the velocity field, changing the topology, and redistributing energy across length scales. In superfluid helium and atomic Bose–Einstein condensates, vortices are effectively one-dimensional lines called quantum vortices (akin to minitornadoes of a fixed strength). Individual reconnections happen when two vortices collide and subsequently recoil, exchanging heads and tails. Recent experimental progress opens the possibility of answering the important question as to whether reconnections obey a universal behavior. Here we show that the intervortex distance between reconnecting vortices obeys two fundamental scaling laws, which we identify in experimental data and numerical simulations, across homogeneous superfluids and trapped condensates.
Interactions and reconnections of vortices are fundamental in many areas of physics, including classical and quantum fluids where they are central to understanding phenomena such as turbulence. In three-dimensional (3D) superfluids, quantum vortices are one-dimensional filaments that can intersect, reconnect, and recoil with irreversible dynamics described by near-universal scaling laws. We explore quantum-vortex reconnections in a four-dimensional superfluid, where a vortex is a two-dimensional surface. Using real-time numerical simulations, we find much richer behavior than in 3D, including stable intersecting vortex surfaces which do not reconnect, and unusual vortex reconnections which occur without significant energy dissipation, which may indicate quasireversible dynamics. Our work raises many interesting questions about vortex physics in extradimensional systems and may be further extended to look at vortex dynamics and turbulence in higher-dimensional spaces.
At finite temperatures, the motion of topological defects (such as solitons or vortices) in trapped atomic Bose-Einstein condensates is affected by the presence of an inhomogeneous cloud of thermal atoms. Recent interest in quantum turbulence leads us to investigate the temperature dependence of vortex reconnections - events which are essential ingredients of turbulence. Using the Zaremba-Nikuni-Griffin (ZNG) formalism based on a dissipative Gross-Pitaevskii equation for the condensate coupled to a semiclassical Boltzmann equation for the thermal cloud, we find that, on the typical length scales and time scales of atomic condensates, vortex reconnections are temperature independent. Furthermore, comparison to vortex reconnections in homogeneous condensates show reconnections to be insensitive to inhomogeneity in the background density.