Classical and quantum turbulence

The reconnection of two singularities in 2D, 3D, and 4D classical and quantum turbulence is examined. Singularity reconnection plays an essential role in the dissipation of the incompressible part of kinetic energy. A reconnection condition 2(d_s+1)≥d+1 is derived, which crucially depends on the dimension d_s of the singular structure in relation to the spatial dimension d of the system. The feasibility of this condition is examined using direct numerical simulations of the Navier-Stokes and Gross-Pitaevskii equations for the classical and quantum turbulence, respectively. We observed that the condition was satisfied for d=3 and 4, in agreement with the occurrence of energy cascades in both classical and quantum turbulence in those dimensions.     

Generation and detection of quantum turbulence in superfluid 3He-B

We describe the first direct observations of turbulence in superfluid 3He-B. The turbulence is generated by a vibrating-wire resonator driven at velocities exceeding the pair-breaking critical velocity. It is detected by the resulting decrease in the thermal damping on a neighboring "detector" vibrating-wire resonator. The superfluid flow field associated with the turbulence Andreev reflects thermal quasiparticle excitations, effectively screening the detector wire, resulting in a decrease in the thermal damping.     

Decay of pure quantum turbulence in superfluid 3He-B

We describe measurements of the decay of pure superfluid turbulence in superfluid 3He-B, in the low temperature regime where the normal fluid density is negligible. We follow the decay of the turbulence generated by a vibrating grid as detected by vibrating wire resonators. Despite the absence of any classical normal fluid dissipation processes, the decay is consistent with turbulence having the classical Kolmogorov energy spectrum and is remarkably similar to that measured in superfluid 4He at relatively high temperatures. Further, our results strongly suggest that the decay is governed by the superfluid circulation quantum rather than kinematic viscosity.     

Rotating superfluid turbulence

Almost all studies of vortex states in helium II have been concerned with either ordered vortex arrays or disordered vortex tangles. This work numerically studies what happens in the presence of both rotation (which induces order) and thermal counterflow (which induces disorder). We find a new statistically steady state in which the vortex tangle is polarized along the rotational axis. Our results are used to interpret an instability that was discovered experimentally by Swanson et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 50, 190 (1983)]] and the vortex state beyond the instability that has been unexplained until now.     

Polarization of superfluid turbulence

We show that normal-fluid eddies in turbulent helium II polarize the tangle of quantized vortex lines present in the flow, thus inducing superfluid vorticity patterns similar to the driving normal-fluid eddies. We also show that the polarization is effective over the entire inertial range. The results help explain the surprising analogies between classical and superfluid turbulence which have been observed recently.     

Scale invariance and superfluid turbulence

We construct a Schroedinger field theory invariant under local spatial scaling. It is shown to provide an effective theory of superfluid turbulence by deriving, analytically, the observed Kolmogorov 5/3 law and to lead to a Biot–Savart interaction between the observed filament excitations of the system as well.     

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.     

Kelvin-wave cascade and decay of superfluid turbulence

Kelvin waves (kelvons), the distortion waves on vortex lines, play a key part in the relaxation of superfluid turbulence at low temperatures. We present a weak-turbulence theory of kelvons. We show that nontrivial kinetics arises only beyond the local-induction approximation and is governed by three-kelvon collisions; a corresponding kinetic equation is derived. We prove the existence of Kolmogorov cascade and find its spectrum. The qualitative analysis is corroborated by numeric study of the kinetic equation. The application of the results to the theory of superfluid turbulence is discussed.     

Quantum and quasiclassical types of superfluid turbulence

By injecting negative ions in superfluid 4He in the zero-temperature limit (T0.7 K, a jet of ions generates quasiclassical tangles identical to those produced by mechanical means.     

Energy spectra of developed superfluid turbulence

Turbulence spectra in superfluids are modified by the nonlinear energy dissipation caused by the mutual friction between quantized vortices and the normal component of the liquid. We have found a new state of fully developed turbulence, which occurs in some range of two Reynolds parameters characterizing the superfluid flow. This state displays both the Kolmogorov-Obukhov 5/3-scaling law E_k ∝ k^?5/3 and a new “3-scaling law” E_k ∝ k^?3, each in a well-separated range of k.     

Kelvin waves cascade in superfluid turbulence

We study numerically the interaction of four initial superfluid vortex rings in the absence of any dissipation or friction. We find evidence for a cascade of Kelvin waves generated by individual vortex reconnection events which transfers energy to higher and higher wave numbers k. After the vortex reconnections occur, the energy spectrum scales as k(-1) and the curvature spectrum becomes flat. These effects highlight the importance of Kelvin waves and reconnections in the transfer of energy within a turbulent vortex tangle.     

Vortex instability and the onset of superfluid turbulence

Quantized circulation, the absence of Galilean invariance due to a clamped normal component, and the vortex mutual friction are the major factors that make superfluid turbulence behave in a way different from that in classical fluids. The model is developed for the onset of superfluid turbulence that describes the initial avalanchelike multiplication of vortices into a turbulent vortex tangle.     

Topological noise scalings in superfluid and classical turbulence

We calculate the topological noise characterizing the direction of line vortices in superfluid and classical turbulence by finding the intersection of line vortices with square surfaces of edge length l_s positioned normal to three orthogonal axes. In the case of homogeneous superfluid turbulence in thermal counterflow, we find that the noise scales as l_s along the two directions normal to the counterflow and as l _s ^3/2 along the direction parallel to it. In homogeneous isotropic superfluid turbulence, at T→0 K, the noise scales as l _s ^7/4 . In homogeneous isotropic classical turbulence, the scaling is l _s ² . We offer possible interpretations of the computed scalings, as well as justification for their differences.     

Fluctuations and stability of superfluid turbulence at mK temperatures

Turbulent flow of superfluid 4He at mK temperatures around an oscillating microsphere is known to be unstable at low driving forces, switching intermittently between turbulent and laminar phases. The lifetimes of the turbulent phases are exponentially distributed, and the mean lifetimes grow exponentially with the square of the driving force. These experimental results are attributed to statistical fluctuations of the density L of the vortex line length. As a result, a normal probability distribution of L2 is found having a standard deviation of 2.9 x 10(14) m(-4) and a spectral bandwidth Deltaomega approximately 13 s(-1).     

Elimination of fast mode in hydrodynamics of superfluid turbulence

Using the multi-time scales method we fulfill procedure of a separation of a fast and slow processes in the equations of HST. It is shown that slow stage of the evolution of transient heat load of moderate intensity obeys to the well-known nonlinear heat conductivity equation.     

Different regimes for water wave turbulence

We present an experimental study on gravity capillary wave turbulence in water. By using space-time resolved Fourier transform profilometry, the behavior of the wave energy density |η(k,ω)|(2) in the 3D (k,ω) space is inspected for various forcing frequency bandwidths and forcing amplitudes. Depending on the bandwidth, the gravity spectral slope is found to be either forcing dependent, as classically observed in laboratory experiments, or forcing independent. In the latter case, the wave spectrum is consistent with the Zakharov-Filonenko cascade predicted within wave turbulence theory.     

Nonlinear regimes in spin dynamics of superfluid 3He

We study an algebra of Poisson brackets of the Hamiltonian system defined by the nonlinear Leggett equations of spin dynamics in the A- and the B-phases of superfluid ³He. For the A-phase the Poisson algebra results in a special case of the equations of motion of a rigid body in ideal fluid; for the B-phase, in the absence of magnetic field, it allows for a reduction to a smaller Poisson algebra that provides exact solutions for the Leggett equations.     

Quantum turbulence in a propagating superfluid vortex front

We present experimental, numerical, and theoretical studies of a vortex front propagating into a region of vortex-free flow of rotating superfluid 3He-B. We show that the nature of the front changes from laminar through quasiclassical turbulent to quantum turbulent with decreasing temperature. Our experiment provides the first direct measurement of the dissipation rate in turbulent vortex dynamics of 3He-B and demonstrates that the dissipation becomes mutual-friction independent with decreasing temperature, and it is strongly suppressed when the Kelvin-wave cascade on vortex lines is predicted to be involved in the turbulent energy transfer to smaller length scales.