7/2/2014 Superfluidity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Fig. 1. Helium II will "creep" along
surfaces in order to find its own level
after a short while, the levels in the
two containers will equalize. The
Rollin film also covers the interior of
the larger container; if it were not
sealed, the helium II would creep out
and escape.
Superfluidity
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Superfluidity is a state of matter in which the matter behaves like a fluid with zero viscosity; where it appears to
exhibit the ability to self-propel and travel in a way that defies the forces of gravity and surface tension. While this
characteristic was originally discovered in liquid helium, it is also found in astrophysics, high-energy physics, and
theories of quantum gravity. The phenomenon is related to the BoseEinstein condensation, but it is not identical:
not all Bose-Einstein condensates can be regarded as superfluids, and not all superfluids are BoseEinstein
condensates.
Contents
1 Superfluidity of liquid helium
2 Ultracold atomic gases
3 Superfluid in astrophysics
4 Superfluidity in high-energy physics and quantum gravity
5 See also
6 References
7 Further reading
Superfluidity of liquid helium
In liquid helium, the superfluidity effect was discovered by Pyotr Kapitsa
and John F. Allen. It has since been described through phenomenological
and microscopic theories. In liquid helium-4, the superfluidity occurs at
far higher temperatures than it does in helium-3. Each atom of helium-4 is
a boson particle, by virtue of its integer spin. A helium-3 atom, however,
is a fermion particle; it can form bosons only by pairing with itself at much
lower temperatures. This process is similar to the electron pairing in
superconductivity.
Ultracold atomic gases
Superfluidity in an ultracold fermionic gas was experimentally proved by Wolfgang Ketterle and his team who
observed quantum vortices in
6
Li at a temperature of 50 nK at MIT in April 2005.
[1][2]
Such vortices had
previously been observed in an ultracold bosonic gas using
87
Rb in 2000,
[3]
and more recently in two-dimensional
gases.
[4]
As early as 1999 Lene Hau created such a condensate using sodium atoms
[5]
for the purpose of slowing
light, and later stopping it completely.
[6]
Her team then subsequently used this system of compressed light
[7]
to
generate the superfluid analogue of shock waves and tornadoes: "These dramatic excitations result in the formation
of solitons that in turn decay into quantized vorticescreated far out of equilibrium, in pairs of opposite circulation
7/2/2014 Superfluidity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Fig. 2. The liquid helium is in the
superfluid phase. As long as it
remains superfluid, it creeps up the
wall of the cup as a thin film. It
comes down on the outside, forming
a drop which will fall into the liquid
below. Another drop will formand
so onuntil the cup is empty.
revealing directly the process of superfluid breakdown in Bose-
Einstein condensates. With a double light-roadblock setup, we can
generate controlled collisions between shock waves resulting in
completely unexpected, nonlinear excitations. We have observed hybrid
structures consisting of vortex rings embedded in dark solitonic shells.
The vortex rings act as 'phantom propellers' leading to very rich
excitation dynamics."
[8]
Superfluid in astrophysics
The idea that superfluidity exists inside neutron stars was first proposed
by Arkady Migdal.
[9][10]
By analogy with electrons inside
superconductors forming Cooper pairs due to electron-lattice interaction,
it is expected that nucleons in a neutron star at sufficiently high density
and low temperature can also form Cooper pairs due to the long-range
attractive nuclear force and lead to superfluidity and
superconductivity.
[11]
Superfluidity in high-energy physics and
quantum gravity
Superfluid vacuum theory is an approach in theoretical physics and quantum mechanics where the physical vacuum
is viewed as superfluid.
The ultimate goal of the approach is to develop scientific models that unify quantum mechanics (describing three of
the four known fundamental interactions) with gravity. This makes SVT a candidate for the theory of quantum
gravity and an extension of the Standard Model. It is hoped that development of such theory would unify into a
single consistent model of all fundamental interactions, and to describe all known interactions and elementary
particles as different manifestations of the same entity, superfluid vacuum.
See also
BoseEinstein condensate
Condensed matter physics
Macroscopic quantum phenomena
Quantum hydrodynamics
Slow light
Superconductivity
Superfluid helium-4
Superfluid vacuum
Supersolid
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References
1. ^ "MIT physicists create new form of matter" (http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2005/matter.html). Retrieved
November 22, 2010.
2. ^ Grimm, R. (2005). "Low-temperature physics: A quantum revolution". Nature 435 (7045): 10351036.
doi:10.1038/4351035a (http://dx.doi.org/10.1038%2F4351035a). PMID 15973388
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15973388).
3. ^ Madison, K.; Chevy, F.; Wohlleben, W.; Dalibard, J. (2000). "Vortex Formation in a Stirred Bose-Einstein
Condensate". Physical Review Letters 84 (5): 806809. arXiv:cond-mat/9912015 (https://arxiv.org/abs/cond-
mat/9912015). Bibcode:2000PhRvL..84..806M (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2000PhRvL..84..806M).
doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.806 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRevLett.84.806). PMID 11017378
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11017378).
4. ^ Burnett, K. (2007). "Atomic physics: Cold gases venture into Flatland". Nature Physics 3 (9): 589.
Bibcode:2007NatPh...3..589B (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007NatPh...3..589B). doi:10.1038/nphys704
(http://dx.doi.org/10.1038%2Fnphys704).
5. ^ Hau, L. V.; Harris, S. E.; Dutton, Z.; Behroozi, C. H. (1999). "Light speed reduction to 17 metres per second in
an ultracold atomic gas". Nature 397 (6720): 594598. doi:10.1038/17561 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1038%2F17561).
6. ^ "Lene Hau" (http://www.physicscentral.com/explore/people/hau.cfm). Physicscentral.com. Retrieved 2013-02-
10.
7. ^ Lene Vestergaard Hau (2003). "Frozen Light"
(http://www.deas.harvard.edu/haulab/publications/pdf/HauScientificAmerican2003.pdf). Scientific American: 44
51.
8. ^ Shocking Bose-Einstein Condensates with Slow Light (http://www.siam.org/meetings/nw06/hau.php)
9. ^ A. B. Migdal (1959). "Superfluidity and the moments of inertia of nuclei". Nucl. Phys. 13 (5): 655674.
Bibcode:1959NucPh..13..655M (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1959NucPh..13..655M). doi:10.1016/0029-
5582(59)90264-0 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2F0029-5582%2859%2990264-0).
10. ^ A. B. Migdal (1960). Soviet Phys. JETP 10: 176.
11. ^ U. Lombardo and H.-J. Schulze (2001). "Superfluidity in Neutron Star Matter". Physics of Neutron Star Interiors.
Lecture Notes in Physics 578. Springer. pp. 3053. arXiv:astro-ph/0012209 (https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-
ph/0012209). doi:10.1007/3-540-44578-1_2 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1007%2F3-540-44578-1_2).
Further reading
Gunault, Antony M. (2003). Basic superfluids. London: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-7484-0891-6.
Annett, James F. (2005). Superconductivity, superfluids, and condensates. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
ISBN 978-0-19-850756-7.
Volovik, G. E. (2003). The Universe in a helium droplet (http://www.amazon.com/Universe-Droplet-
International-Monographs-Physics/dp/0198507828). Int. Ser. Monogr. Phys. 117. pp. 1507. ISBN 978-
0198507826.
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