Vortex line in superfluid {sup 4}He: A variational Monte Carlo calculation

Journal Article · Mon Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1996 · Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.54.1205· OSTI ID:285959

Vitiello, S A ^[1]; Reatto, L ^[2]; Chester, G V; Kalos, M H ^[1]

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1. Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853 (United States)
2. Instituto Nazionale Fisica della Materia and Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita degli Studi, Via Celoria 16, 20133 Milano (Italy)

We present a Monte Carlo investigation of a vortex line in superfluid {sup 4}He in a cylindrical container. We compute the excitation energy and the density profile for two different trial functions. The first is the standard Onsager-Feynman form for an excited vortex state. This gives a singular velocity on the axis of the vortex and a hollow core. In our second approach, a shadow wave function, is used to model the vortex state through the auxiliary, or shadow variables. As a consequence, the vorticity is distributed over a finite region and the density does not vanish at the vortex axis. This second wave function gives a substantially lower energy than the wave function of the Onsager-Feynman form. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}

• OSTI ID: 285959
• Journal Information: Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter, Journal Name: Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 54; ISSN PRBMDO; ISSN 0163-1829
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

66 PHYSICS
HELIUM II
MELTING
MONTE CARLO METHOD
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
QUANTUM FLUIDS
VORTEX FLOW