Mechanical model of the Lorentz force and Coulomb interaction

The centripetal and Coriolis accelerations experienced by a cart traveling over a rotating turntable are usually calculated proceeding from the known kinematics of the problem. Respective forces can be regarded as due to the entrainment of the cart in the moving solid environs. We extend the approach to the general case of a particle entrained in the flow of the surrounding medium. The expression for the driving force on the particle obtained from the kinematics of the entrainment prescribed appears to be isomorphic to the Lorentz and Coulomb force on a positive electric charge. The inverse direction of the electromagnetic force on a negative charge implies that a growing applied flow induces the upstream motion of the particle. A possible microscopic mechanism for it may be the Magnus force dynamics of a kink in a vortex tangle. The loop on a straight vortex filament can be taken as a model of the electron, the loop with a cavitation models the positron. The Lorentz force is concerned with the Coriolis acceleration. The Coulomb interaction is due to the centripetal or centrifugal force that arises in the turbophoresis of the kink in the perturbation field generated in the medium by the center of pressure.      

Energy barriers for vortex nucleation in dipolar condensates

We consider singly-quantized vortex states in a condensate of ⁵²Cr atoms in a pancake trap. We obtain the vortex solutions by numerically solving the Gross-Pitaevskii equation in the rotating frame with no further approximations. The behavior of the condensate is studied under three different situations concerning the interactions: only s-wave, s-wave plus dipolar and only dipolar. The energy barrier for the nucleation of a vortex is calculated as a function of the vortex displacement from the rotation axis in the three cases. These results are compared to those obtained for contact interaction condensates in the Thomas-Fermi approximation, and to a pseudo-analytical model, showing this latter a very good agreement with the numerical calculation.     

幺正极限附近费米气体反常激发模式的涡旋

在幺正极限附近研究了处于旋转外势中费米气体的量子化涡旋动力学. 选取适当的试探波函数并利用含时变分法, 得到了小振幅涡旋运动方程及描述其反常激发模式的解. 详细讨论了在幺正极限附近的反常模式产生的条件. 结果显示系统囚禁外势的临界转动频率在幺正极限附近随粒子间相互作用参数的增加而变大, 而涡旋进动的周期则随着粒子间相互作用参数的增加而减小. 关键词： 费米气体 涡旋 幺正极限     

Superfluid transition in a rotating fermi gas with resonant interactions

We study a rotating atomic Fermi gas near a narrow s-wave Feshbach resonance in a uniaxial trap with frequencies Omega perpendicular, Omega z. We predict the upper-critical angular velocity, omega c2(delta,T), as a function of temperature T and detuning delta across the BEC-BCS crossover. The suppression of superfluidity at omega c2 is distinct in the BCS and BEC regimes, with the former controlled by depairing and the latter by the dilution of bosonic molecules. At low T and Omega z < Omega perpendicular, in the BCS and crossover regimes of 0 less similar delta less similar delta c, omega c2 is implicitly given by [formula: see text], vanishing as omega c2 approximately Omega perpendicular(1 - delta/delta c)(1/2) near [formula: see text] (with Delta the BCS gap and gamma the resonance width), and extending the bulk result variant Planck's over 2pi omega c2 approximately 2Delta2/epsilonF to a trap. In the BEC regime of delta < 0 we find omega c2-->Omega perpendicular-, where molecular superfluidity is destroyed only by large quantum fluctuations associated with comparable boson and vortex densities.     

Fractal dimension of superfluid turbulence

Superfluid turbulence consists of a disordered tangle of quantized vortex filaments which interact with each other and with the normal fluid. We develop a kinematic model of normal-fluid turbulence to study superfluid vortex tangles at finite temperatures and show by numerical simulation that the system of filaments has a fractal dimension larger than one. We find that the fractal dimension is directly related to the vortex-line density and is independent of temperature over a wide range.     

Mechanisms of elementary events in the kinetics of electrical breakdown of polymer and ceramic dielectrics

The kinetics of electrical breakdown of thin (15–70 μm) layers of polymers and ceramics in a constant-sign field at 77–480 K has been investigated. The temperature dependences of the longevity (breakdown waiting time) of both dielectrics have been found to be similar to each other. At elevated temperatures, the longevity of the dielectrics varies exponentially with increasing temperature, and at reduced temperatures, it is temperature-independent (there is an athermal plateau). The mechanisms of elementary events controlling the process of preparation of the dielectrics for breakdown at elevated and reduced temperatures are the thermal-fluctuation over-barrier electron transition from trap to trap and the tunneling (under-barrier) transition, respectively. The hopping electron transport in the field direction gives rise to critical space charges causing breakdown of the dielectrics. The transition barrier heights (trap depths) have been determined. The low-temperature longevities of the polymer and the ceramic have been found to be similar, whereas the transition barrier for the ceramic is much higher than that for the polymer and the applied field in the former case is significantly (by a factor of tens) lower than that in the latter case. Electron traps in the polymer are adequately described by the Coulomb center model, whereas this is not the case for the ceramic.     

环形势阱中旋转玻色爱因斯坦凝聚体的基态

应用托马斯-费米近似和虚时演化数值方法研究环形势阱中旋转玻色爱因斯坦凝聚体的基态密度分布.当增加其旋转角频率,或者增加环形势阱的宽度及相应的中心高度,凝聚体基态密度分布均从涡旋晶格相转变为巨涡旋相.当旋转角频率为零时,增加环形势阱的宽度及相应的中心高度,凝聚体基态密度分布从一个圆盘变为圆环.解析结果与数值结果相互吻合.     

Dynamical instability of a condensate induced by a rotating thermal gas

We study surface modes of the condensate in the presence of a rotating thermal cloud in an axisymmetric trap. By considering collisions that transfer atoms between the condensate and the noncondensate, we find that m>0 modes, which rotate in the same sense as the thermal cloud, damp less strongly than m<0 modes, where m is the polarity of the excitation. We show that above a critical angular rotation frequency, equivalent to the Landau stability criterion, m>0 modes become dynamically unstable, leading to the possibility of vortex nucleation. We also generalize our stability analysis to treat the case where the stationary state of the condensate already possesses a single vortex.     

Hydrodynamic interaction between two rotating tori

The hydrodynamic interactions between two rotating tori is studied. Two kinds of problems are addressed. The interaction between two force free tori is examined, for co and counter rotating cases, which should be relevant in the case of swimming of two toroidal animals and form the basis for interaction of a swarm of such swimmers, apart from the dynamics of a collection of stiff polymer rings. The second problem is the case of two non-translating rotating tori, a possible configuration in toroidal mixers for microfluidic devices. In the former case, analytical expression for translational velocity shows good agreement with the theory in the far field case and show a strong reduction in the velocities in the lubrication limit for the co-rotating case. The velocities are found to monotonically reduce to zero in the case of counter-rotating tori. For the latter case, the expression for velocity field is derived the net force acting on the torus is analytically calculated. The comparison with numerical results is encouraging both in the case of co as well as counter-rotation. The expressions derived for velocities should be useful in estimating pseudo-potentials between such pairs.     

Vortices in dipolar Bose–Einstein condensates in synthetic magnetic field

We study the formation of vortices in a dipolar Bose–Einstein condensate in a synthetic magnetic field by numerically solving the Gross–Pitaevskii equation. The formation process depends on the dipole strength, the rotating frequency, the potential geometry, and the orientation of the dipoles. We make an extensive comparison with vortices created by a rotating trap, especially focusing on the issues of the critical rotating frequency and the vortex number as a function of the rotating frequency. We observe that a higher rotating frequency is needed to generate a large number of vortices and the anisotropic interaction manifests itself as a perceptible difference in the vortex formation. Furthermore, a large dipole strength or aspect ratio also can increase the number of vortices effectively. In particular, we discuss the validity of the Feynman rule.     

Critical rotation of an anharmonically trapped Bose--Einstein condensate

We consider rotational motion of an interacting atomic Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) with both two- and three-body interactions in a quadratic-plus-quartic and harmonic-plus-Gaussian trap. By using the variational method, the influence of the three-body interaction and the anharmonicity of the trap on the lowest energy surface mode excitation and the spontaneous shape deformation (responsible for the vortex formation) in a rotating BEC is discussed in detail. It is found that the repulsive three-body interaction helps the formation of the vortex and reduces the lowest energy surface mode frequency and the critical rotational frequency of the system. Moreover, the critical rotational frequency for the vortex formation in the harmonic-plus-Gaussian potential is lower than that in the quadratic-plus-quartic potential.     

Bose-Einstein condensates with a bent vortex in rotating traps

We consider a 3D dilute Bose-Einstein condensate at thermal equilibrium in a rotating harmonic trap. The condensate wavefunction is a local minimum of the Gross-Pitaevskii energy functional and we determine it numerically with the very efficient conjugate gradient method. For single vortex configurations in a cigar-shaped harmonic trap we find that the vortex line is bent, in agreement with the numerical prediction of Garcia-Ripoll and Perez-Garcia [Phys. Rev. A 63, 041603 (2001)]. We derive a simple energy functional for the vortex line in a cigar-shaped condensate which allows to understand physically why the vortex line bends and to predict analytically the minimal rotation frequency required to stabilize the bent vortex line. This analytical prediction is in excellent agreement with the numerical results. It also allows to find in a simple way a saddle point of the energy, where the vortex line is in a stationary configuration in the rotating frame but not a local minimum of energy. Finally we investigate numerically the effect of thermal fluctuations on the vortex line for a condensate with a straight vortex: we can predict what happens in a single realization of the experiment by a Monte Carlo sampling of an atomic field quasi-distribution function of the density operator of the gas at thermal equilibrium in the Bogoliubov approximation. Received 28 March 2002 / Received in final form 13 September 2002 Published online 21 January 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: yvan.castin@lkb.ens.fr     

Vortex formation in a slowly rotating Bose-Einstein condensate confined in a harmonic-plus-Gaussian laser trap

Motivated by the recent experiment at ENS [V. Bretin, S. Stock, Y. Seurin and, J. Dalibard, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 050403 (2004)], we study a rotating (non-)interacting atomic Bose-Einstein condensate confined in a harmonic-plus-Gaussian laser trap potential. By adjusting the amplitude of the Gaussian laser potential, one can make quadratic-plus-quartic potential, purely quartic potential, and quartic-minus-quadratic potential. We show that an interacting Bose-Einstein condensate confined in a harmonic-plus-Gaussian laser trap breaks the rotational symmetry of the Hamiltonian when rotational frequency is greater than one-half of the lowest energy surface mode frequency. We also show that by increasing the amplitude of the Gaussian laser trap, a vortex appears in a slowly rotating Bose-Einstein condensate. Moreover, one can also create a vortex in a slowly rotating non-interacting Bose-Einstein condensate confined in harmonic-plus-Gaussian laser potential.Received: 24 June 2004, Published online: 24 August 2004PACS: 03.75.Lm Tunneling, Josephson effect, Bose-Einstein condensates in periodic potentials, solitons, vortices and topological excitations - 05.30.Jp Boson systems     

Evolution of a network of vortex loops in He-II: exact solution of the rate equation

The evolution of a network of vortex loops in He-II due to the fusion and breakdown of vortex loops is studied. We perform investigation on the base of the "rate equation" for the distribution function n(l) of number of loops of length l. By use of the special ansatz we have found the exact power-like solution of the rate equation in a stationary case. That solution is the famous equilibrium distribution n(l) proportional l(-5/2) obtained earlier from thermodynamic arguments. Our result, however, is not equilibrium; it describes the state with two mutual fluxes of the length (or energy) in l space. Analyzing this solution we drew several results on the structure and dynamics of the vortex tangle in the superfluid turbulent helium. In particular, we obtained that the mean radius of the curvature is of the order of interline space and that the decay of the vortex tangle obeys the Vinen equation. We also evaluated the full rate of reconnection.     

Three-Dimensional Numerical Simulation of Long-Lived Quantum Vortex Knots and Links in a Trapped Bose Condensate

The dynamics of the simplest vortex knots, “unknots,” and torus links in an atomic Bose condensate at zero temperature in an anisotropic harmonic trap has been simulated numerically within the three-dimensional Gross–Pitaevskii equation. It has been found that such quasistationary rotating vortex structures exist for a very long time in wide ranges of the parameters of the system. This new result is qualitatively consistent with a previous prediction based on a simplified one-dimensional model approximately describing the motion of knotted vortex filaments.     

Vortex states of rapidly rotating dilute Bose-Einstein condensates

We show that, in the Thomas-Fermi regime, the cores of vortices in rotating dilute Bose-Einstein condensates adjust in radius as the rotation velocity, Omega, grows, thus precluding a phase transition associated with core overlap at high vortex density. In both a harmonic trap and a rotating hard-walled bucket, the core size approaches a limiting fraction of the intervortex spacing. At large rotation speeds, a system confined in a bucket develops, within Thomas-Fermi, a hole along the rotation axis, and eventually makes a transition to a giant vortex state with all the vorticity contained in the hole.     

Clustering of the low-inertia particle number density field in random divergence-free hydrodynamic flows

We consider the diffusion of the low-inertia particle number density field in random divergence-free hydrodynamic flows. The principal feature of this diffusion is the divergence of the particle velocity field, which results in clustering of the particle number density field. This phenomenon is coherent, occurs with a unit probability, and must show up in almost all realizations of the process dynamics. We calculate the statistical parameters that characterize clustering in three-dimensional and two-dimensional random fluid flows and in a rapidly rotating two-dimensional random flow. In the former case, the vortex component of the random divergence-free flow generates a vortex component of the low-inertia particle velocity field, which generates a potential component of the velocity field through advection. By contrast, in the case of rapid rotation, a potential component of the velocity field is generated directly by the vortex component of the random divergence-free flow (linear problem).     

Effect of vortex pinning by point defects on the lower critical field in layered superconductors

The lower critical field H _c1 in layered superconductors is calculated under the assumption that vortex pinning by point defects is strong in these materials. We consider the case of a purely electromagnetic coupling of vortex pancakes and the case of both the electromagnetic and Josephson couplings of the pancakes in a vortex line. In the latter case, singularities in the temperature dependence of H _c1 are predicted at certain characteristic temperatures.