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G. E. Volovik

Publications and source records attributed to G. E. Volovik.

At least 199 records · Page 11Linked to original sources

Random anisotropy disorder in superfluid 3He-A in aerogel

The anisotropic superfluid 3He-A in aerogel provides an interesting example of a system with continuous symmetry in the presence of random anisotropy disorder. Recent NMR experiments allow us to discuss two regimes of the orientational disorder, which have different NMR properties. One of them, the (s)-state, is identified as the pure Larkin-Imry-Ma state. The structure of another state, the (f)-state, is not very clear: probably it is the Larkin-Imry-Ma state contaminated by the network of the topological defects pinned by aerogel.

cond-mat.soft↗

Horizons and Ergoregions in Superfluids

Ripplons -- gravity-capillary waves on the free surface of a liquid or at the interfaces between two superfluids -- are the most favourable excitations for simulation of the general-relativistic effects related to horizons and ergoregions. The white-hole horizon for the ``relativistic'' ripplons at the surface of the shallow liquid is easily simulated using the kitchen-bath hydraulic jump. The same white-hole horizon is observed in quantum liquid -- superfluid 4He. The ergoregion for the ``non-relativistic'' ripplons is generated in the experiments with two sliding 3He superfluids. The common property experienced by all these ripplons is the Miles instability inside the ergoregion or horizon. Because of the universality of the Miles instability, one may expect that it could take place inside the horizon of the astrophysical black holes, if there is a preferred reference frame which comes from the trans-Planckian physics. If this is the case, the black hole would evapotate much faster than due to the Hawking radiation. Hawking radiation from the artificial black hole in terms of the quantum tunneling of phonons and ripplons is also discussed.

gr-qc↗

Transition to Superfluid Turbulence

Turbulence in superfluids depends crucially on the dissipative damping in vortex motion. This is observed in the B phase of superfluid 3He where the dynamics of quantized vortices changes radically in character as a function of temperature. An abrupt transition to turbulence is the most peculiar consequence. As distinct from viscous hydrodynamics, this transition to turbulence is not governed by the velocity-dependent Reynolds number, but by a velocity-independent dimensionless parameter 1/q which depends only on the temperature-dependent mutual friction -- the dissipation which sets in when vortices move with respect to the normal excitations of the liquid. At large friction and small values of 1/q < 1 the dynamics is vortex number conserving, while at low friction and large 1/q > 1 vortices are easily destabilized and proliferate in number. A new measuring technique was employed to identify this hydrodynamic transition: the injection of a tight bundle of many small vortex loops in applied vortex-free flow at relatively high velocities. These vortices are ejected from a vortex sheet covering the AB interface when a two-phase sample of 3He-A and 3He-B is set in rotation and the interface becomes unstable at a critical rotation velocity, triggered by the superfluid Kelvin-Helmholtz instability.

cond-mat.soft↗

Vacuum Energy: Myths and Reality

We discuss the main myths related to the vacuum energy and cosmological constant, such as: ``unbearable lightness of space-time''; the dominating contribution of zero point energy of quantum fields to the vacuum energy; non-zero vacuum energy of the false vacuum; dependence of the vacuum energy on the overall shift of energy; the absolute value of energy only has significance for gravity; the vacuum energy depends on the vacuum content; cosmological constant changes after the phase transition; zero-point energy of the vacuum between the plates in Casimir effect must gravitate, that is why the zero-point energy in the vacuum outside the plates must also gravitate; etc. All these and some other conjectures appear to be wrong when one considers the thermodynamics of the ground state of the quantum many-body system, which mimics macroscopic thermodynamics of quantum vacuum. In particular, in spite of the ultraviolet divergence of the zero-point energy, the natural value of the vacuum energy is comparable with the observed dark energy. That is why the vacuum energy is the plausible candidate for the dark energy.

gr-qc↗

Solution of the problem of catastrophic relaxation of homogeneous spin precession in superfluid $^3$He-B

The quantitative analysis of the "catastrophic relaxation" of the coherent spin precession in $^3$He-B is presented. This phenomenon has been observed below the temperature about 0.5 T$_c$ as an abrupt shortening of the induction signal decay. It is explained in terms of the decay instability of homogeneous transverse NMR mode into spin waves of the longitudinal NMR. Recently the cross interaction amplitude between the two modes has been calculated by Sourovtsev and Fomin \cite{SF} for the so-called Brinkman-Smith configuration, i.e. for the orientation of the orbital momentum of Cooper pairs along the magnetic field, ${\bf L}\parallel {\bf H}$. In their treatment, the interaction is caused by the anisotropy of the speed of the spin waves. We found that in the more general case of the non-parallel orientation of ${\bf L}$ corresponding to the typical conditions of experiment, the spin-orbital interaction provides the additional interaction between the modes. By analyzing experimental data we are able to distinguish which contribution is dominating in different regimes.

cond-mat.soft↗

Quantum phase transitions from topology in momentum space

Many quantum condensed matter systems are strongly correlated and strongly interacting fermionic systems, which cannot be treated perturbatively. However, physics which emerges in the low-energy corner does not depend on the complicated details of the system and is relatively simple. It is determined by the nodes in the fermionic spectrum, which are protected by topology in momentum space (in some cases, in combination with the vacuum symmetry). Close to the nodes the behavior of the system becomes universal; and the universality classes are determined by the toplogical invariants in momentum space. When one changes the parameters of the system, the transitions are expected to occur between the vacua with the same symmetry but which belong to different universality classes. Different types of quantum phase transitions governed by topology in momentum space are discussed in this Chapter. They involve Fermi surfaces, Fermi points, Fermi lines, and also the topological transitions between the fully gapped states. The consideration based on the momentum space topology of the Green's function is general and is applicable to the vacua of relativistic quantum fields. This is illustrated by the possible quantum phase transition governed by topology of nodes in the spectrum of elementary particles of Standard Model.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Emergent physics on vacuum energy and cosmological constant

The phenomenon of emergent physics in condensed-matter many-body systems has become the paradigm of modern physics, and can probably also be applied to high-energy physics and cosmology. This encouraging fact comes from the universal properties of the ground state (the analog of the quantum vacuum) in fermionic many-body systems, described in terms of the momentum-space topology. In one of the two generic universality classes of fermionic quantum vacua the gauge fields, chiral fermions, Lorentz invariance, gravity, relativistic spin, and other features of the Standard Model gradually emerge at low energy. The condensed-matter experience provides us with some criteria for selecting the proper theories in particle physics and gravity, and even suggests specific solutions to different fundamental problems. In particular, it provides us with a plausible mechanism for the solution of the cosmological constant problem, which I will discuss in some detail.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Momentum space topology and quantum phase transitions

Many quantum condensed-matter systems, and probably the quantum vacuum of our Universe, are strongly correlated and strongly interacting fermionic systems, which cannot be treated perturbatively. However, physics which emerges in the low-energy does not depend on the complicated details of the system and is relatively simple. It is determined by the nodes in the fermionic spectrum, which are protected by topology in momentum space (in some cases, in combination with the vacuum symmetry). Here we illustrate this universality on some examples of quantum phase transitions, which can occur between the vacua with the same symmetry but with diferent topology in momentum space. The quantum phase transitions between the fully gapped states with different momentum-space topology are also discussed.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Coexisting vacua and effective gravity

Our Universe may be a domain separated by physical phase boundaries from other domain-Universes with different vacuum energy density and matter content. The coexistence of different quantum vacua is perhaps regulated by the exchange of global fermionic charges or by fermion zero modes on the phase boundary. An example would be a static de-Sitter Universe embedded in an asymptotically flat spacetime.

gr-qc↗

The hydraulic jump as a white hole

In the geometry of the circular hydraulic jump, the velocity of the liquid in the interior region exceeds the speed of capillary-gravity waves (ripplons), whose spectrum is `relativistic' in the shallow water limit. The velocity flow is radial and outward, and thus the relativistic ripplons cannot propagating into the interior region. In terms of the effective 2+1 dimensional Painleve-Gullstrand metric appropriate for the propagating ripplons, the interior region imitates the white hole. The hydraulic jump represents the physical singularity at the white-hole horizon. The instability of the vacuum in the ergoregion inside the circular hydraulic jump and its observation in recent experiments on superfluid 4He by E. Rolley, C. Guthmann, M.S. Pettersen and C. Chevallier in physics/0508200 are discussed.

physics.flu-dyn↗

Vacuum energy: quantum hydrodynamics vs quantum gravity

We compare quantum hydrodynamics and quantum gravity. They share many common features. In particular, both have quadratic divergences, and both lead to the problem of the vacuum energy, which in the quantum gravity transforms to the cosmological constant problem. We show that in quantum liquids the vacuum energy density is not determined by the quantum zero-point energy of the phonon modes. The energy density of the vacuum is much smaller and is determined by the classical macroscopic parameters of the liquid including the radius of the liquid droplet. In the same manner the cosmological constant is not determined by the zero-point energy of quantum fields. It is much smaller and is determined by the classical macroscopic parameters of the Universe dynamics: the Hubble radius, the Newton constant and the energy density of matter. The same may hold for the Higgs mass problem: the quadratically divergent quantum correction to the Higgs potential mass term is also cancelled by the microscopic (trans-Planckian) degrees of freedom due to thermodynamic stability of the whole quantum vacuum.

gr-qc↗

Emergent CPT violation from the splitting of Fermi points

In a fermionic quantum vacuum, the parameters k_μof a CPT-violating Chern-Simons-like action term induced by CPT-violating parameters of the fermionic sector depend on the universality class of the system. As a concrete example, we consider the Dirac Hamiltonian of a massive fermionic quasiparticle and add a particular term with purely-spacelike CPT-violating parameters b_μ=(0,{\bf b}). A quantum phase transition separates two phases, one with a fully-gapped fermion spectrum and the other with topologically-protected Fermi points (gap nodes). The emergent Chern-Simons ``vector'' k_μ=(0,{\bf k}) now consists of two parts. The regular part, {\bf k}^{reg}, is an analytic function of |{\bf b}| across the quantum phase transition and may be nonzero due to explicit CPT violation at the fundamental level. The anomalous (nonanalytic) part, {\bf k}^{anom}, comes solely from the Fermi points and is proportional to their splitting. In the context of condensed-matter physics, the quantum phase transition may occur in the region of the BEC-BCS crossover for Cooper pairing in the p-wave channel. For elementary particle physics, the splitting of Fermi points may lead to neutrino oscillations, even if the total electromagnetic Chern-Simons-like term cancels out.

hep-th↗

No robust phases in aerogel: 3He-A with orientational disorder in the Ginzburg-Landau model

In series of papers Fomin introduced and discussed the so-called robust phases in a system with frozen orientational disorder (with application to superfluid 3He in aerogel). We show that his consideration is based on the erroneous overestimation of the fluctuation energy which comes from the interaction of the Goldstone modes with the frozen disorder. This interaction leads to the Imry-Ma effect, which destroys the orientational order, but is unable to destroy the local structure of the A-phase. There is no ground for the robust phases.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

Merging gauge coupling constants without Grand Unification

The merging of the running couplings constants of the weak, strong, and electromagnetic fields does not require the unification of these gauge fields at high energy. It can, in fact, be the property of a general fermionic system in which gauge bosons are not fundamental.

hep-ph↗

Quantum phase transition for the BEC--BCS crossover in condensed matter physics and CPT violation in elementary particle physics

We discuss the quantum phase transition that separates a vacuum state with fully-gapped fermion spectrum from a vacuum state with topologically-protected Fermi points (gap nodes). In the context of condensed-matter physics, such a quantum phase transition with Fermi point splitting may occur for a system of ultracold fermionic atoms in the region of the BEC-BCS crossover, provided Cooper pairing occurs in the non-s-wave channel. For elementary particle physics, the splitting of Fermi points may lead to CPT violation, neutrino oscillations, and other phenomena.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Vortex Formation and Dynamics in Superfluid 3He and Analogies in Quantum Field Theory

The formation and dynamics of topological defects of different structure has been of central interest in the study of the 3He superfluids. Compared to superfluid 4He-II, the variability of the important parameters with temperature and pressure is wider and many features are more ideal. This has made experimentally new approaches possible. An example is the formation of quantized vortices and other topological defects in a rapid time-dependent phase transition from the normal state to 3He-B. This vortex formation process is known as the Kibble-Zurek mechanism and is one the central topics of this review. It demonstrates the use of 3He-B as a model system for quantum fields, with detailed control from the laboratory.

cond-mat.other↗

Cosmological constant and vacuum energy

The general thermodynamic analysis of the quantum vacuum, which is based on our knowledge of the vacua in condensed-matter systems, is consistent with the Einstein earlier view on the cosmological constant. In the equilibrium Universes the value of the cosmological constant is regulated by matter. In the empty Universe, the vacuum energy is exactly zero, lambda=0. The huge contribution of the zero point motion of the quantum fields to the vacuum energy is exactly cancelled by the higher-energy degrees of freedom of the quantum vacuum. In the equilibrium Universes homogeneously filled by matter, the vacuum is disturbed, and density of the vacuum energy becomes proportional to the energy density of matter. This consideration applies to any equilibrium vacuum irrespective of whether the vacuum is false or true, and is valid both in the Einstein general theory of relativity and within the special theory of relativity, i.e. in the world without gravity.

gr-qc↗

On thermodynamic and quantum fluctuations of cosmological constant

We discuss from the condensed-matter point of view the recent idea that the Poisson fluctuations of cosmological constant about zero could be a source of the observed dark energy. We argue that the thermodynamic fluctuations of Lambda are much bigger. Since the amplitude of fluctuations is proportional to V^{-1/2}, where V is the volume of the Universe, the present constraint on the cosmological constant provides the lower limit for V, which is much bigger than the volume within the cosmological horizon.

gr-qc↗