Vortex shedding patterns in holographic superfluids at finite temperature

Abstract

The dynamics of superfluid systems exhibit significant similarities to their classical counterparts, particularly in the phenomenon of vortex shedding triggered by a moving obstacle. In such systems, the universal behavior of shedding patterns can be classified using the classical concept of the Reynolds number $Re=\frac{v \sigma}{\nu}$ (characteristic length scale $\sigma$, velocity $v$ and viscosity $\nu$), which has been shown to generalize to quantum systems at absolute zero temperature. However, it remains unclear whether this universal behavior holds at finite temperatures, where viscosity arises from two distinct sources: thermal excitations and quantum vortex viscosity. Using a holographic model of finite-temperature superfluids, we investigate the vortex shedding patterns and identify two distinct regimes without quantum counterparts: a periodic vortex dipole pattern and a vortex dipole train pattern. By calculating the shedding frequency, Reynolds number, and Strouhal number, we find that these behaviors are qualitatively similar to empirical observations in both classical and quantum counterparts, which imply the robustness of vortex shedding dynamics at finite-temperature superfluid systems.