Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

When superfluids are a drag

Journal Article · · Contemporary Physics
 [1]
  1. Los Alamos National Laboratory
The article considers the dramatic phenomenon of seemingly frictionless flow of slow-moving superfluids. Specifically the question of whether an object in a superfluid flow experiences any drag force is addressed. A brief account is given of the history of this problem and it is argued that recent advances in ultracold atomic physics can shed much new light on this problem. The article presents the commonly held notion that sufficiently slow-moving superfluids can flow without drag and also discusses research suggesting that scattering quantum fluctuations might cause drag in a superfluid moving at any speed.
Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
Sponsoring Organization:
DOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396
OSTI ID:
956648
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-08-07908; LA-UR-08-7908
Journal Information:
Contemporary Physics, Journal Name: Contemporary Physics Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 50; ISSN CTPHAF; ISSN 0010-7514
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Hydrodynamic boundary condition for superfluid flow
Journal Article · Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2008 · Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics · OSTI ID:21143274

Drag suppression in anomalous chiral media
Journal Article · Tue May 31 20:00:00 EDT 2016 · Physical Review D · OSTI ID:1338590

Drag Force on an Impurity below the Superfluid Critical Velocity in a Quasi-One-Dimensional Bose-Einstein Condensate
Journal Article · Fri Aug 21 00:00:00 EDT 2009 · Physical Review Letters · OSTI ID:21364630