Turbulent diffusion and dispersion in a superfluid
Single-body diffusion and two-body dispersion are fundamental processes in classical turbulence, governing particle mixing and transport. However, their behaviors in superfluid turbulence remain largely unexplored. In this study, we numerically investigate the diffusion and relative dispersion of both quantized vortices and superfluid parcels in the 0 K limit in two distinct turbulence regimes: ultraquantum turbulence, characterized by a randomized vortex tangle, and quasiclassical turbulence, in which locally polarized vortices create large-scale flows resembling classical turbulence. Our results reveal that while vortex segments exhibit similar superdiffusion behavior at short times in both regimes, superfluid parcels behave differently—following the same superdiffusion scaling in ultraquantum turbulence but deviating significantly in quasiclassical turbulence. This contrast provides a key clue to the origin of short-time superdiffusion, a puzzle since its recent discovery. Additionally, we show that two-body dispersion of both vortex segments and superfluid parcels exhibits distinct scaling behaviors in ultraquantum and quasiclassical turbulence, highlighting fundamental differences in these two turbulence regimes. Our findings bridge a critical gap in superfluid turbulence research, offering useful insights into turbulent transport in inviscid quantum fluids.
Authors
- Sosuke Inui (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4331-4689)
- Yiming Xing (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0755-3938)
- Wei Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9466-3213)
- Yuan Tang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9052-6679)
- Yusen Qi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-8727-1925)
Institutions
- Florida State University (US)
- National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical Review Research
- Published
- 2025-10-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/2hdj-qnw3
- Primary Topic
- Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00