arXiv subjects

Luca Galantucci

Publications and source records attributed to Luca Galantucci.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Reproducible nucleation and control of stable quantum vortex rings in Bose-Einstein condensates

We propose and numerically validate an experimentally feasible on-demand protocol for the nucleation and manipulation of stable quantum vortex rings in trapped Bose-Einstein condensates. The method relies on sweeping a laser-sheet barrier that locally constricts the superflow and triggers vortex-ring formation. By tuning the barrier height and width, and by scanning the barrier velocity, we identify the onset of periodic generation of vortex rings above the critical velocity and achieve direct, deterministic control over the ring nucleation position, radius, and hence propagation speed. After its formation, ad-hoc optical potentials are applied to reshape the vortex ring, creating clean Kelvin-wave excitations. Our results provide a foundation for systematic studies of three-dimensional vortices in atomic superfluids and open the door to tailored vortex dynamics and interactions, enabling controlled access to quantum turbulence.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2026

Quantum vortex driven Kelvin wave in the thermal background of superfluid helium

We present numerical evidence that Kelvin waves (KWs) on quantized vortices in superfluid helium can be directly observed in the normal fluid component at finite temperatures. Using the Fully cOUpled loCAl model of sUperfLuid Turbulence (FOUCAULT) model, we analyze the propagation and temperature dependence of KWs by simultaneously measuring the dispersion of waves on the vortex displacement and the normal fluid velocity. The results demonstrate that the normal fluid supports a coherent KW-like response, with a dispersion relation matching that of the vortex filament (VF). Unlike the Schwarz model where there is almost no temperature dependence, in FOUCAULT KWs frequency and damping both depend on temperature, highlighting the role of mutual friction in mediating the coupling between the two fluids. These findings open a pathway for experimental observation of KWs in the normal phase using tracer based visualization.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2025

Inverse energy transfer in three-dimensional quantum vortex flows

Vortex reconnections play a fundamental role in fluids.They increase the complexity of flow and develop small-scale motions.In this work, we report that in superfluids, they can also excite large scales. We numerically illustrate that during a superfluid vortex reconnection energy is injected into the thermal (normal) component of helium~II at small length scales, but is transferred nonlinearly to larger length scales, increasing the integral length scale of the normal fluid. We show, by studying about fifty different reconnections, that this inverse energy transfer is triggered by the helical imbalance generated in the normal fluid flow by the mutual friction force coupling the superfluid vortices and the normal component. We finally discuss the relevance of our findings to the problem of superfluid turbulence.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2025

Quantum vortices leave a macroscopic signature in the normal fluid

Recent work has highlighted the remarkable properties of quantum turbulence in superfluid helium II, consisting of a disordered tangle of quantised vortex lines which interact with each other and reconnect when they collide. According to Landau's two-fluid theory, these vortex lines move in a surrounding of thermal excitations called the normal fluid. Until now, the normal fluid has often been considered a passive background which simply provides the vortex lines with a mechanism for dissipating their kinetic energy into heat. Using a model which fully takes into account the two-way interaction between the vortex lines and the normal fluid, here we show numerically that each vortex line creates a macroscopic wake in the normal fluid that can be larger than the average distance between vortex lines; this is surprising, given the microscopic size of the superfluid vortex cores which induce these wakes. We show that in heat transfer experiments, the flow of the normal fluid can therefore be described as the superposition of an imposed uniform flow and wakes generated by the vortex lines, leading to non-classical statistics of the normal fluid velocity. We also argue that this first evidence of independent fluid structures in the thermal excitations postulated by Landau may be at the root of recent, unaccounted for, experimental findings.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2024

Experimental and theoretical evidence of universality in superfluid vortex reconnections

The minimum separation between reconnecting vortices in fluids and superfluids obeys a universal scaling law with respect to time. The pre-reconnection and the post-reconnection prefactors of this scaling law are different, a property related to irreversibility and to energy transfer and dissipation mechanisms. In the present work, we determine the temperature dependence of these prefactors in superfluid helium from experiments and a numeric model which fully accounts for the coupled dynamics of the superfluid vortex lines and the thermal normal fluid component. At all temperatures, we observe a pre- and post-reconnection asymmetry similar to that observed in other superfluids and in classical viscous fluids, indicating that vortex reconnections display a universal behaviour independent of the small-scale regularising dynamics. We also numerically show that each vortex reconnection event represents a sudden injection of energy in the normal fluid. Finally we argue that in a turbulent flow, these punctuated energy injections can sustain the normal fluid in a perturbed state, provided that the density of superfluid vortices is large enough.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2024

Cross-Component Energy Transfer in Superfluid Helium-4

The reciprocal energy and enstrophy transfers between normal fluid and superfluid components dictate the overall dynamics of superfluid $^4$He including the generation, evolution and coupling of coherent structures, the distribution of energy among lengthscales, and the decay of turbulence. To better understand the essential ingredients of this interaction, we employ a numerical two-way model which self-consistently accounts for the back-reaction of the superfluid vortex lines onto the normal fluid. Here we focus on a prototypical laminar (non-turbulent) vortex configuration which is simple enough to clearly relate the geometry of the vortex line to energy injection and dissipation to/from the normal fluid: a Kelvin wave excitation on two vortex anti-vortex pairs evolving in (a) an initially quiescent normal fluid, and (b) an imposed counterflow. In (a), the superfluid injects energy and vorticity in the normal fluid. In (b), the superfluid gains energy from the normal fluid via the Donnelly-Glaberson instability.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2023

Dissipation anomaly in a turbulent quantum fluid

When the intensity of turbulence is increased (by increasing the Reynolds number, e.g. by reducing the viscosity of the fluid), the rate of the dissipation of kinetic energy decreases but does not tend asymptotically to zero: it levels off to a non-zero constant as smaller and smaller vortical flow structures are generated. This fundamental property, called the dissipation anomaly, is sometimes referred to as the zeroth law of turbulence. The question of what happens in the limit of vanishing viscosity (purely hypothetical in classical fluids) acquires a particular physical significance in the context of liquid helium, a quantum fluid which becomes effectively inviscid at low temperatures achievable in the laboratory. By performing numerical simulations and identifying the superfluid Reynolds number, here we show evidence for a superfluid analog to the classical dissipation anomaly. Our numerics indeed show that as the superfluid Reynolds number increases, smaller and smaller structures are generated on the quantized vortex lines on which the superfluid vorticity is confined, balancing the effect of weaker and weaker dissipation.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2023

Friction-enhanced lifetime of bundled quantum vortices

Experiments in the early 1980s have shown that a compact bundle of quantum vortex rings in superfluid helium remains coherent and travels a significant distance compared to its size. This is surprising because a single vortex ring, under the effect of friction with the background of thermal excitations (the so-called normal fluid), would quickly lose energy and decay. The observation of these long-lived vortex structures has remained an unsettled question since their experimental detection. In this work, by taking into account the fully coupled dynamics of superfluid vortices and the normal fluid, we show that the motion of the superfluid bundle generates a large-scale wake in the normal fluid which reduces the overall friction experienced by the bundle, enhancing its lifetime. This collective effect is similar to the drag reduction observed in systems of active, hydrodynamically cooperative agents such as bacteria in aqueous suspensions, fungal spores in the atmosphere and cyclists in pelotons.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2022

Superfluid drain vortex

Drain vortices are among the most common vortices observed in everyday life, yet their physics is complex due to the competition of vorticity's transport and diffusion, and the presence of viscous layers and a free surface. Recently, it has become possible to study experimentally drain vortices in superfluid liquid helium, a fluid in which the physics is simplified by the absence of viscosity and the quantisation of the circulation. Using the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, we make a simple model of the problem which captures the essential physics ingredients, showing that the superfluid drain vortex consists of a bundle of vortex lines which twist, thus strengthening the axial flow into the drain.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2020

Intra-scales energy transfer during the evolution of turbulence in a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate

In turbulence phenomena, including the quantum turbulence in superfluids, an energy flux flows from large to small length scales, composing a cascade of energy. A universal characteristic of turbulent flows is the existence of a range of scales where the energy flux is scale-invariant: this interval of scales is often referred to as inertial region. This property is fundamental as, for instance, in turbulence of classical fluids it characterizes the behavior of statistical features such as spectra and structure functions. Here we show that also in decaying quantum turbulence generated in trapped Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs), intervals of momentum space where the energy flux is constant can be identified. Indeed, we present a procedure to measure the energy flux using both the energy spectrum and the continuity equation. A range of scales where the flux is constant is then determined employing two distinct protocols and in the same range, the momentum distribution measured is consistent with previous work. The successful identification of a region with constant flux in turbulent BECs is a manifestation of the universal character of turbulence in these quantum systems. These measurements pave the way for studies of energy conservation and dissipation in trapped atomic superfluids, and also analogies with the related processes that take place in ordinary fluids.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2020

Classical and quantum vortex leapfrogging in two-dimensional channels

The leapfrogging of coaxial vortex rings is a famous effect which has been noticed since the times of Helmholtz. Recent advances in ultra-cold atomic gases show that the effect can now be studied in quantum fluids. The strong confinement which characterizes these systems motivates the study of leapfrogging of vortices within narrow channels. Using the two-dimensional point vortex model, we show that in the constrained geometry of a two-dimensional channel the dynamics is richer than in an unbounded domain: alongsize the known regimes of standard leapfrogging and the absence of it, we identify new regimes of backward leapfrogging and periodic orbits. Moreover, by solving the Gross-Pitaevskii equation for a Bose-Einstein condensate, we show that all four regimes exist for quantum vortices too. Finally, we discuss the differences between classical and quantum vortex leapfrogging which appear when the quantum healing length becomes significant compared to the vortex separation or the channel size, and when, due to high velocity, compressibility effects in the condensate becomes significant.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2020

A new self-consistent approach of quantum turbulence in superfluid helium

We present the Fully cOUpled loCAl model of sUperfLuid Turbulence (FOUCAULT) that describes the dynamics of finite temperature superfluids. The superfluid component is described by the vortex filament method while the normal fluid is governed by a modified Navier-Stokes equation. The superfluid vortex lines and normal fluid components are fully coupled in a self-consistent manner by the friction force, which induces local disturbances in the normal fluid in the vicinity of vortex lines. The main focus of this work is the numerical scheme for distributing the friction force to the mesh points where the normal fluid is defined and for evaluating the velocity of the normalfluid on the Lagrangian discretization points along the vortex lines. In particular, we show that if this numerical scheme is not careful enough, spurious results may occur. The new scheme which we propose to overcome these difficulties is based on physical principles. Finally, we apply the new method to the problem of the motion of a superfluid vortex ring in a stationary normal fluid and in a turbulent normal fluid.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2019

Crossover from interaction to driven regimes in quantum vortex reconnections

Reconnections of coherent filamentary structures play a key role in the dynamics of fluids, redistributing energy and helicity among the length scales, triggering dissipative effects and inducing fine-scale mixing. Unlike ordinary (classical) fluids where vorticity is a continuous field, in superfluid helium and in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) vorticity takes the form of isolated quantised vortex lines, which are conceptually easier to study. New experimental techniques now allow visualisation of individual vortex reconnections in helium and condensates. It has long being suspected that reconnections obey universal laws, particularly a universal scaling with time of the minimum distance between vortices $δ$. Here we perform a comprehensive analysis of this scaling across a range of scenarios relevant to superfluid helium and trapped condensates, combining our own numerical simulations with the previous results in the literature. We reveal that the scaling exhibit two distinct fundamental regimes: a $δ\sim t^{1/2}$ scaling arising from the mutual interaction of the reconnecting strands and a $δ\sim t$ scaling when extrinsic factors drive the individual vortices.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2017

Vortex reconnections and rebounds in trapped atomic Bose--Einstein condensates

Reconnections and interactions of filamentary coherent structures play a fundamental role in the dynamics of fluids, plasmas and nematic liquid crystals. In fluids, vortex reconnections redistribute energy and helicity among the length scales and induce fine-scale turbulent mixing. Unlike ordinary fluids where vorticity is a continuous field, in quantum fluids vorticity is concentrated into discrete (quantized) vortex lines turning vortex reconnections into isolated events, making it conceptually easier to study. Here we report experimental and numerical observations of three-dimensional quantum vortex interactions in a cigar-shaped atomic Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC). In addition to standard reconnections, already numerically and experimentally observed in homogeneous systems away from boundaries, we show that double reconnections, rebounds and ejections can also occur as a consequence of the non-homogeneous, confined nature of the system.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2017

Large-scale normal fluid circulation in helium superflows

We perform fully-coupled numerical simulations of helium II pure superflows in a channel, with vortex- line density typical of experiments. Peculiar to our model is the computation of the back-reaction of the superfluid vortex motion on the normal fluid and the presence of solid boundaries. We recover the uniform vortex-line density experimentally measured employing second sound resonators and we show that pure superflow in helium II is associated with a large-scale circulation of the normal fluid which can be detected using existing particle-tracking visualization techniques.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2015

Coupled normal fluid and superfluid profiles of turbulent helium II in channels

We perform fully coupled two--dimensional numerical simulations of plane channel helium II counterflows with vortex--line density typical of experiments. The main features of our approach are the inclusion of the back reaction of the superfluid vortices on the normal fluid and the presence of solid boundaries. Despite the reduced dimensionality, our model is realistic enough to reproduce vortex density distributions across the channel recently calculated in three--dimensions. We focus on the coarse--grained superfluid and normal fluid velocity profiles, recovering the normal fluid profile recently observed employing a technique based on laser--induced fluorescence of metastable helium molecules.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2011

Very fine near-wall structures in scalar mixing

Passive scalar dynamics in wall-bounded turbulence is studied via Direct Numerical Simulations of plane channel flow, for a friction Reynolds number $Re_* = 160$ and a Schmidt number $Sc=1$. Peculiar to the present research is that the spatial resolution reaches far beyond what has been employed in similar past studies. Our aim is to examine the statistics of the most dissipative events across the various layers of the channel flow, and to compare them to the homogeneous isotropic case, where the recent studies by Schumacher et al (2005) and Watanabe and Gotoh (2007) have described a range of scalar micro-scales that require extremely high spatial resolution to be properly resolved. Resolution effects are observed on integral-scale quantities such as the mean profiles of the scalar dissipation and its variance. By examining probability distributions, it is found that the finest resolution is essential for correctly computing small-scale statistics in the near-wall region of the channel. As expected, this high-resolution requirement extends outwards to the channel centerline, where the behavior of isotropic turbulence is recovered. However, high-intensity scalar dissipation events are overemphasized by marginal resolution near the wall, while they are underemphasized in the central region.

physics.flu-dyn↗