Description and evolution of anisotropy in superfluid vortex tangles with counterflow and rotation

Journal Article · Tue Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 2006 · Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVB.74.054509· OSTI ID:20853486

Jou, D ^[1]; Mongiovi, M S ^[2]

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1. Departament de Fisica, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Catalonia (Spain)
2. Dipartimento di Metodi e Modelli Matematici, Facolta di Ingegneria, Universita di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128 Palermo (Italy)

We examine several vectorial and tensorial descriptions of the geometry of turbulent vortex tangles. We study the anisotropy in rotating counterflow experiments, in which the geometry of the tangle is especially interesting because of the opposite effects of rotation, which orients the vortices, and counterflow, which randomizes them. We propose to describe the anisotropy and the polarization of the vortex tangle through a tensor, which contains the first and second moments of the distribution of the unit vector s{sup '} locally tangent to the vortex lines. We use an analogy with paramagnetism to estimate the anisotropy, the average polarization, the polarization fluctuations, and the geometrical contribution to the entropy of the tangle in terms of angular velocity and counterflow. We explore the influence of the geometry on the evolution of the vortex line density and propose evolution equations for the geometry of the tangle.

• OSTI ID: 20853486
• Journal Information: Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, Journal Name: Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 74; ISSN 1098-0121
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ANGULAR VELOCITY
ANISOTROPY
DENSITY
DISTRIBUTION
ENTROPY
FLUCTUATIONS
GEOMETRY
HELIUM 4
PARAMAGNETISM
POLARIZATION
ROTATION
SUPERFLUIDITY
TURBULENCE
VORTICES