arXiv subjects

Xiaoquan Yu

Publications and source records attributed to Xiaoquan Yu.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Turbulence in Quantum Gases: Vortices, Waves, and Cascades

We review turbulence in ultracold quantum gases, using the scalar contact-interaction Bose-Einstein condensate as the reference system for quantized circulation, compressibility, vortices, sound, and cascades. We focus on the quantitative diagnostics that connect helium and classical phenomenology to microscopic wave-function dynamics: incompressible and compressible kinetic-energy spectra, wave-occupation spectra, spectral fluxes, vortex-resolved correlations, and velocity statistics. These diagnostics distinguish equilibrium vortex organization, decaying turbulent relaxation, forced cascade dynamics, and weak-wave turbulence, and show why power laws alone are insufficient evidence for a cascade. We survey experiments on two-dimensional Onsager clustering, three-dimensional vortex-line turbulence, box-trap wave cascades, engineered dissipation, and turbulent equations of state. We close by briefly placing the contact-interaction scalar superfluid system in a broader landscape of nonlocal, multicomponent, fermionic, and driven-dissipative quantum fluids, where turbulence concepts can be tested for universality.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2025

Oscillating ring ferrodark solitons with breathing nematic core in a homogeneous spinor superfluid

We study the dynamics of ring ferrodark solitons (FDSs) in a homogeneous quasi-two-dimensional (2D) ferromagnetic spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). In contrast to the usual expanding dynamics of ring dark solitons in a homogeneous system, the ring FDS radius exhibits self-sustained oscillations accompanied by the nematic tensor breathing at the magnetization-vanishing ring FDS core. When the ring radius greatly exceeds the FDS width, motion is nearly elastic, and we derive the ring-radius equation of motion (EOM) which admits exact solutions. This equation can be recast into a form analogous to the inviscid Rayleigh-Plesset equation governing spherical bubble dynamics in classical fluids, but with anomalous terms. At the ring FDS core, the nematic tensor motion is parameterized by a single parameter that connects the two types of FDSs monotonically. Beyond the hydrodynamics regime, density and spin wave emissions become significant and cause energy loss, shrinking the ring FDS radius oscillation; below a threshold, collapses occur followed by the ring FDS annihilation. In the zero quadratic Zeeman energy limit, the ring radius and eigenvalues of the nematic tensor become stationary, while oscillations of the nematic tensor components, driven by the ring curvature, persist at the core. Excellent agreements are found between analytical predictions and numerical simulations.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2025

Ferrodark soliton collisions: Breather formation, pair reproduction, and spin-mass separation

We study collisions between a ferrodark soliton (FDS) and an antiFDS ($\mathbb{Z}_2$ kinks in the spin order) in the easy-plane phase of spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). For a type-I pair (type-I FDS-antiFDS pair) at low incoming velocities, the pair annihilates followed by the formation of an extremely long-lived dissipative breather on a stable background, a spatially localized wave packet with out-of-phase oscillating magnetization and mass superfluid densities. Periodic emissions of spin and density waves cause breather energy dissipation and we find that the breather energy decays logarithmically in time. When the incoming velocity is larger than a critical velocity at which a stationary FDS-antiFDS pair forms, a pair with finite separating velocity is reproduced. When approaching the critical velocity from below, we find that the lifetime of the stationary type-I pair shows a power-law divergence, resembling a critical behavior. In contrast, a type-II pair (type-II FDS-antiFDS pair) never annihilates and only exhibits reflection. For collisions of a mixed type FDS-antiFDS pair, as $\mathbb{Z}_2$ kinks in the spin order, reflection occurs in the topological structure of the magnetization while the mass superfluid density profiles pass through each other, manifesting spin-mass separation.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2025

Motion of ferrodark solitons in trapped superfluids: spin corrections and emergent oscillators

We propose a framework for topological soliton dynamics in trapped spinor superfluids, decomposing the force acting on the soliton by the surrounding fluid into the buoyancy force and spin corrections arising from the density depletion at soliton core and the coupling between the orbital motion and the spin mixing, respectively. Our formulation applies to large-amplitude soliton motion in general superfluids with spin degrees of freedom under arbitrary external potentials. For ferrodark solitons (FDSs) in spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates , the spin correction could diverge, change the direction of the total force and enable mapping the FDS motion in a harmonic trap to the atomic-mass particle dynamics in an emergent quartic potential. Initially placing a type-I FDS near the trap center, a single-sided oscillation happens, which maps to the particle moving around a local minimum of the emergent double-well potential. As the initial distance of a type-II FDS from the trap center increases, the motion exhibits three regimes: trap-centered harmonic and anharmonic oscallations followed by single-sided oscillations. Correspondingly the emergent quartic potential undergoes a transition from a single minimum to a double-well shape, where the particle motion shifts from oscillating around the single minimum to crossing between two minima via the local maximum, then the symmetry-breaking motion around one of the two minima. In a hard-wall trap with linear potential, the FDS motion maps to a harmonic oscillator.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2024

Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transitions in a ferromagnetic superfluid: effects of axial magnetization

An easy-plane ferromagnetic spin-1 Bose gas undergoes two Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transitions, associated with mass and spin superfluidity respectively. We study the effect of axial magnetization on the superfluid properties of this system. We find that nonzero axial magnetization couples mass and spin superflow, via a mechanism analogous to the Andreev-Bashkin effect present in two-component superfluids. With sufficiently large axial magnetization mass and spin superfluidity arise simultaneously. The cross-over to this phase provides a finite-temperature generalization of the zero-temperature broken-axisymmetric to easy-axis transition. We present analytic relations connecting mass and spin superfluidity with experimentally observable coherence of the three spinor components and local magnetization.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2024

Onsager vortex clusters on a sphere

We study Onsager vortex clustered states in a shell-shaped superfluid containing a large number of quantum vortices. In the incompressible limit and at low temperatures, the relevant problem can be boiled down to the statistical mechanics of neutral point vortices confined on a sphere. We analyze rotation free vortex clustered states within the mean field theory in the microcanonical ensemble. We find that the sandwich state, which involves the separating of vortices with opposite circulation and the clustering of vortices with the same circulation around the poles and the equator, is the maximum entropy vortex distribution, subject to zero angular momentum constraint. The dipole momentum vanishes for the sandwich state and the quadrupole tensor serves as an order parameter to characterize the vortex cluster structure. For given finite angular momentum, the equilibrium vortex distribution forms a dipole structure, i.e., vortices with opposite sign are separated and are accumulated around the south and north pole, respectively. The conditions for the onset of clustering, and the exponents associated with the quadrupole moment and the dipole moment as functions of energy, are obtained within the mean field theory. At large energies, we obtain asymptotically exact vortex density distributions using the stereographic projection method, giving rise to the parameter bounds for the vortex clustered states. The analytical predictions are in excellent agreement with microcanonical Monte Carlo simulations.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2024

Absence of the breakdown of ferrodark solitons exhibiting a snake instability

We investigate the dynamical stability and real time dynamics of the two-types of ferrodark solitons (FDSs) which occur as topological magnetic domain walls in the easy-plane phase of a quasi-two-dimensional (2D) ferromagnetic spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate. The type-I FDS has positive inertial mass and exhibits a single dynamical instability that generates in plane spin winding, causing polar-core spin vortex dipoles. The positive inertial mass leads to the elastic oscillations of the soliton under transverse perturbations. The type-II FDS has negative inertial mass and exhibits a snake instability and a spin-twist instability, with the latter involving the generation of out of plane spin winding. Distinct from the normal dynamics of negative mass solitons under long wave length transverse perturbations, the snake instability does not lead to the type-II FDS breaking down. Instead, segments of the type-II FDS convert to type-I and mass vortex dipoles are produced. The resulting hybridized-chain of the two soliton types and vortices exhibits complex 2D soliton dynamics at long times while the vortices remain confined and the topological structure of a magnetic domain wall is preserved.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2023

Axis-symmetric Onsager Clustered States of Point Vortices in a Bounded Domain

We study axis-symmetric Onsager clustered states of a neutral point vortex system confined to a two-dimensional disc. Our analysis is based on the mean field of bounded point vortices in the microcanonical ensemble. The clustered vortex states are specified by the inverse temperature $\beta$ and the rotation frequency $\omega$, which are the conjugate variables of energy $E$ and angular momentum $L$, respectively. The formation of the axis-symmetric clustered vortex states (azimuthal angle independent) involves the separating of vortices with opposite circulation and the clustering of vortices with same circulation around origin and edge. The state preserves $\rm SO(2)$ symmetry while breaks $\mathbb Z_2$ symmetry. We find that, near the uniform state ($E=0$), the rotation free state ($\omega=0$) emerges at particular values of $L^2/E$ and $\beta$. At large energies, we obtain asymptotically exact vortex density distributions, whose validity condition gives rise the lower bound of $\beta$ for the rotation free states. Noticeably, the obtained vortex density distribution near the edge at large energies provides a novel exact vortex density distribution for the corresponding chiral vortex system.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2023

Hydrodynamics of Quantum Vortices on a Closed Surface

We develop a neutral vortex fluid theory on closed surfaces with zero genus. The theory describes collective dynamics of many well-separated quantum vortices in a superfluid confined on a closed surface. Comparing to the case on a plane, the covariant vortex fluid equation on a curved surface contains an additional term proportional to Gaussian curvature multiplying the circulation quantum. This term describes the coupling between topological defects and curvature in the macroscopic level. For a sphere, the simplest nontrivial stationary vortex flow is obtained analytically and this flow is analogous to the celebrated zonal Rossby-Haurwitz wave in classical fluids on a nonrotating sphere. For this flow the difference between the coarse-grained vortex velocity field and the fluid velocity field generated by vortices is solely driven by curvature and vanishes in the corresponding vortex flow on a plane when the radius of the sphere goes to infinity.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2022

A Non-Unitary Conformal Field Theory Approach to Two-Dimensional Turbulence

Fluid turbulence is a far-from-equilibrium phenomenon and remains one of the most challenging problems in physics. Two-dimensional, fully developed turbulence may possess the largest possible symmetry, the conformal symmetry. We focus on the steady-state solution of two-dimensional bounded turbulent flow and propose a $c=0$ boundary logarithmic conformal field theory for the inverse energy cascade and another bulk conformal field theory in the classical limit $c\rightarrow -\infty$ for the direct enstrophy cascade. We show that these theories give rise to the Kraichnan-Batchelor scaling $k^{-3}$ and the Kolmogorov-Kraichnan scaling $k^{-5/3}$ for the enstrophy and the energy cascades, respectively, with the expected cascade directions, fluxes, and fractal dimensions. We also made some new predictions for future numerical simulations and experiments to test.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transitions in an easy-plane ferromagnetic superfluid

A two-dimensional (2D) spin-1 Bose gas exhibits two Berezenskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transitions in the easy-plane ferromagnetic phase. The higher temperature transition is associated with superfluidity of the mass current determined predominantly by a single spin component. The lower temperature transition is associated with superfluidity of the axial spin current, quasi-long range order of the transverse spin density and binding of polar-core spin vortices (PCVs). Above the spin BKT temperature, the component circulations that make up each PCV spatially separate, suggesting possible deconfinement analogous to quark deconfinement in high energy physics. Intercomponent interactions give rise to superfluid drag between the spin components, which we calculate analytically at zero temperature. We present the mass/spin superfluid phase diagram as a function of quadratic Zeeman energy $q$. At $q=0$ the system is in an isotropic spin phase with $\mathrm{SO}(3)$ symmetry. Here the fluid response exhibits a system size dependence, suggesting the absence of a BKT transition. Despite this, for finite systems the decay of spin correlations changes from exponential to algebraic as the temperature is decreased.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2022

Core structure of static ferrodark solitons in a spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate

We develop an analytical description of static ferrodark solitons, the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topological defects in the magnetic order, in the easy-plane phase of ferromagnetic spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates. We find that the type-I ferrodark soliton has a single width while the type-II ferrodark soliton exhibits two characteristic length scales. The proposed ansatzes show excellent agreement with numerical results. Spin-singlet amplitudes, nematic tensor densities and nematic currents of ferrodark solitons are also discussed. The $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topological defects in the mass superfluid order, dark-dark-dark vector solitons, are obtained exactly in the parameter regime where exact ferrodark solitons exist. The dark-dark-dark vector soliton has higher excitation energy than ferrodark solitons.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2021

Spectral analysis for compressible quantum fluids

Turbulent fluid dynamics typically involves excitations on many different length scales. Classical incompressible fluids can be cleanly represented in Fourier space enabling spectral analysis of energy cascades and other turbulence phenomena. In quantum fluids, additional phase information and singular behaviour near vortex cores thwarts the direct extension of standard spectral techniques. We develop a formal and numerical spectral analysis for $U(1)$ symmetry-breaking quantum fluids suitable for analyzing turbulent flows, with specific application to the Gross-Pitaevskii fluid. Our analysis builds naturally on the canonical approach to spectral analysis of velocity fields in compressible quantum fluids, and establishes a clear correspondence between energy spectral densities, power spectral densities, and autocorrelation functions, applicable to energy residing in velocity, quantum pressure, interaction, and potential energy of the fluid. Our formulation includes all quantum phase information and also enables arbitrary resolution spectral analysis, a valuable feature for numerical analysis. A central vortex in a trapped planar Bose-Einstein condensate provides an analytically tractable example with spectral features of interest in both the infrared and ultraviolet regimes. Sampled distributions modelling the dipole gas, plasma, and clustered regimes exhibit velocity correlation length increasing with vortex energy, consistent with known qualitative behaviour across the vortex clustering transition. The spectral analysis of compressible quantum fluids presented here offers a rigorous tool for analysing quantum features of superfluid turbulence in atomic or polariton condensates.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2021

Two types of dark solitons in a spin-orbit-coupled Fermi gas

Dark solitons in quantum fluids are well known nonlinear excitations that are usually characterized by a single length scale associated with the underlying background fluid. We show that in the presence of spin-orbit coupling and a linear Zeeman field, superfluid Fermi gases support two different types of nonlinear excitations featured by corresponding length scales related to the existence of two Fermi surfaces. Only one of these types, which occurs for finite spin-orbit coupling and a Zeeman field, survives to the topological phase transition, and is therefore capable to sustain Majorana zero modes. At the point of the emergence of this soliton for varying the Zeeman field, the associated Andreev bound states present a minigap that vanishes for practical purposes, in spite of lacking the reality condition of Majorana modes.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2021

Propagating Ferrodark Solitons in a Superfluid: Exact Solutions and Anomalous Dynamics

Exact propagating topological solitons are found in the easy-plane phase of ferromagnetic spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates, manifesting themselves as kinks in the transverse magnetization. Propagation is only possible when the symmetry-breaking longitudinal magnetic field is applied. Such solitons have two types: a low energy branch with positive inertial mass and a higher branch solution with negative inertial mass. Both types become identical at the maximum speed, a new speed bound that is different from speed limits set by the elementary excitations. The physical mass, which accounts for the number density dip, is negative for both types. In a finite one-dimensional system subject to a linear potential, the soliton undergoes oscillations caused by transitions between the two types occurring at the maximum speed.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2020

Turbulent relaxation to equilibrium in a two-dimensional quantum vortex gas

We experimentally study emergence of microcanonical equilibrium states in the turbulent relaxation dynamics of a two-dimensional chiral vortex gas. Same-sign vortices are injected into a quasi-two-dimensional disk-shaped atomic Bose-Einstein condensate using a range of mechanical stirring protocols. The resulting long-time vortex distributions are found to be in excellent agreement with the meanfield Poisson-Boltzmann equation for the system describing the microcanonical ensemble at fixed energy $\cal{H}$ and angular momentum $\cal{M}$. The equilibrium states are characterized by the corresponding thermodynamic variables of inverse temperature $\hat{\beta}$ and rotation frequency $\hat{\omega}$. We are able to realize equilibria spanning the full phase diagram of the vortex gas, including on-axis states near zero-temperature, infinite temperature, and negative absolute temperatures. At sufficiently high energies the system exhibits a symmetry-breaking transition, resulting in an off-axis equilibrium phase at negative absolute temperature that no longer shares the symmetry of the container. We introduce a point-vortex model with phenomenological damping and noise that is able to quantitatively reproduce the equilibration dynamics.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2020

Dark soliton-like magnetic domain walls in a two-dimensional ferromagnetic superfluid

We report a stable magnetic domain wall in a uniform ferromagnetic spin-1 condensate, characterized by the magnetization having a dark soliton profile with nonvanishing superfluid density. We find exact stationary solutions for a particular ratio of interaction parameters with and without magnetic fields, and develop an accurate analytic solution applicable to the whole ferromagnetic phase. In the absence of magnetic fields, this domain wall relates various distinct solitary excitations in binary condensates through $\textrm{SO}(3)$ spin rotations, which otherwise are unconnected. Remarkably, studying the dynamics of a quasi-two-dimensional (quasi-2D) system we show that standing wave excitations of the domain wall oscillate without decay, being stable against the snake instability. The domain wall is dynamically unstable to modes that cause the magnetization to grow perpendicularly while leaving the domain wall unchanged. Real time dynamics in the presence of white noise reveals that this "spin twist" instability does not destroy the topological structure of the magnetic domain wall.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2020

Density Resolved Wave Packet Spreading in Disordered Gross-Pitaevskii Lattices

We perform novel energy and norm density resolved wave packet spreading studies in the disordered Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) lattice to confine energy density fluctuations. We map the locations of GP regimes of weak and strong chaos subdiffusive spreading in the 2D density control parameter space and observe strong chaos spreading over several decades. We obtain a renormalization of the ground state due to disorder, which allows for a new disorder-induced phase of disconnected insulating puddles of matter due to Lifshits tails. Inside this Lifshits phase, the wave packet spreading is substantially slowed down.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗