Specific heat of the Kelvin modes in low temperature superfluid turbulence

There are two commonly discussed forms of quantum turbulence in superfluid $^4$He above 1K: in one there is a random tangle of quantizes vortex lines, existing in the presence of a non-turbulent normal fluid; in the second there is a coupled turbulent motion of the two fluids, often exhibiting quasi-classical characteristics on scales larger than the separation between the quantized vortex lines in the superfluid component. The decay of vortex line density, $L$, in the former...

To explain the observed decay of superfluid turbulence at very low temperature, it has been proposed that a cascade of Kelvin waves (analogous to the classical Kolmogorov cascade) transfers kinetic energy to length scales which are small enough that sound can be radiated away. We report results of numerical simulations of the interaction of quantized vortex filaments. We observe the development of the Kelvin-waves cascade, and compute the statistics of the curvature, the ampl...

Matter at low temperatures exhibits unusual properties such as superfluidity, superconductivity, Bose-Einstein condensation, and supersolidity. These states display quantum mechanical behaviours at scales much larger than atomic dimensions. As in many phase transitions, defects can occur during the transition to the low temperature state. The study of these defects yields useful information about the nature of the transitions and of the macroscopic states themselves. When coo...

Turbulence, produced by an impulsive spin-down from angular velocity Omega to rest of a cube-shaped container, is investigated in superfluid 4He at temperatures 0.08 K - 1.6 K. The density of quantized vortex lines L is measured by scattering negative ions. Homogeneous turbulence develops after time t of approximately 20 \Omega and decays as L proportional to t^(-3/2). The corresponding energy flux epsilon = nu' (kappa L)^2, which is proportional to t^(-3), is characteristic ...

Turbulence in a superfluid in the zero temperature limit consists of a dynamic tangle of quantized vortex filaments. Different types of turbulence are possible depending on the level of correlations in the orientation of vortex lines. We provide an overview of turbulence in superfluid $^4$He with a particular focus on recent experiments probing the decay of turbulence in the zero temperature regime below 0.5 K. We describe extensive measurements of the vortex line density dur...

When the intensity of turbulence is increased (by increasing the Reynolds number, e.g. by reducing the viscosity of the fluid), the rate of the dissipation of kinetic energy decreases but does not tend asymptotically to zero: it levels off to a non-zero constant as smaller and smaller vortical flow structures are generated. This fundamental property, called the dissipation anomaly, is sometimes referred to as the zeroth law of turbulence. The question of what happens in the l...

Experiments and numerical simulations show that quantum turbulence exists in two distinct limiting regimes: Kolmogorov turbulence (which shares with classical turbulence the important property of a cascade of kinetic energy from large eddies to small eddies) and Vinen turbulence (which is more similar to a random flow). In this work, we define a mesoscale helicity for the superfluid, which, tested in numerical experiments, distinguishes the two turbulent regimes, quantifying ...

The density fluctuations of quantum vortex lines are measured in a turbulent flow of superfluid He, at temperatures corresponding to superfluid fraction of 16%, 47% and 81%. The probe is a micro-fabricated second sound resonator that allows for local and small-scale measurements in the core of the flow, at a 10-mesh-size behind a grid. Remarkably, all the vortex power spectra collapse on a single master curve, independently from the superfluid fraction and the mean velocity. ...

Turbulence in superfluids depends crucially on the dissipative damping in vortex motion. This is observed in the B phase of superfluid 3He where the dynamics of quantized vortices changes radically in character as a function of temperature. An abrupt transition to turbulence is the most peculiar consequence. As distinct from viscous hydrodynamics, this transition to turbulence is not governed by the velocity-dependent Reynolds number, but by a velocity-independent dimensionle...

Superfluid helium is an intimate mixture of a viscous normal fluid, with continuous vorticity, and an inviscid superfluid, where vorticity is constrained to thin, stable topological defects. One mechanism to generate turbulence in this system is through the application of a heat flux, so called thermal counterflow. Of particular interest is how turbulence in the superfluid responds to both a laminar and turbulent normal fluid in the presence of walls. We model superfluid vort...