Quantum turbulence visualized by particle dynamics

M. La Mantia and L. Skrbek
Phys. Rev. B 90, 014519 – Published 29 July 2014

Abstract

The Lagrangian dynamics of micrometer-sized solid particles of hydrogen and deuterium is investigated in thermal counterflow of superfluid He4 at length scales exp straddling about two orders of magnitude across the average distance between quantized vortices by using the particle tracking velocimetry technique. The normalized probability distribution functions of the particle velocities and accelerations change from the shapes typical of quantum turbulence, characterized by power-law tails, at length scales exp, to forms similar to those obtained in classical turbulent flows, at exp, although the power-law behavior of the acceleration distribution tails is less clear than that observed for the particle velocities. Moreover, the acceleration distribution follows a nearly log-normal, classical-like shape, at expLint, where Lint denotes the integral length scale, providing thus, within the just defined inertial range, experimental evidence of the existence of classical-like, macroscopic vortical structures in thermal counterflow of superfluid He4, which is traditionally regarded as a quantum flow with no obvious classical analog. Additionally, we report our observations of the added mass effect in quantum turbulence and discuss them in the framework of a developed model of particle dynamics.

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  • Received 29 May 2014
  • Revised 10 July 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.90.014519

©2014 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

M. La Mantia* and L. Skrbek

  • Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, Ke Karlovu 3, 121 16 Prague, Czech Republic

  • *lamantia@nbox.troja.mff.cuni.cz

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Issue

Vol. 90, Iss. 1 — 1 July 2014

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