Abstract
By analyzing trajectories of solid hydrogen tracers, we find that the distributions of velocity in decaying quantum turbulence in superfluid are strongly non-Gaussian with power-law tails. These features differ from the near-Gaussian statistics of homogenous and isotropic turbulence of classical fluids. We examine the dynamics of many events of reconnection between quantized vortices and show by simple scaling arguments that they produce the observed power-law tails.
- Received 16 June 2008
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.154501
©2008 American Physical Society
Viewpoint
Reconnecting to superfluid turbulence
Published 6 October 2008
Images of vortex motion in superfluid helium reveal connections between quantum and classical turbulence and may lead to an understanding of complex flows in both superfluids and ordinary fluids.
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