Superfluid Field Research Articles

A New Theory for the Essence and Structure of the Photon

A photon is the smallest discrete amount or quantum of electromagnetic radiation, and it is the basic unit of light. It exhibits no shape, “point particle,” according to the standard model of particle physics, meaning that a photon interacts as if it is entirely located at a single point in space and does not spread out to fill a three-dimensional volume. In this study, a new theory, in which the photon demonstrates a structure and shape, is proposed based on the perturbed quantum superfluid field (vacuum) in the photon epoch during the first seconds of the Big Bang. Photons are the nonlinear manifestation of Kelvin–Helmholtz instability that induces the formation of elliptical vortices, known as Kida vortices, which are converted to a three-dimensional spheroidal structure that remains unchanged in time and rotates with uniform angular velocity due to Coriolis force. Using hydrodynamics laws and applying them to a superfluid vacuum, the basic properties of the photon are described. Moreover, this study provides mathematical models to calculate the kinetic energy, radius, volume, charge, and particle-wave duality of photon. To confirm the proposed theory, the mathematical formulations are presented. We conclude that the photon shape is accessible to human imagination; knowing this shape helps determine photon properties and sheds light on how matter is made as well as explains the interactions of subatomic particles.

Boundary conformal field theory at large charge

We study operators with large internal charge in boundary conformal field theories (BCFTs) with internal symmetries. Using the state-operator correspondence and the existence of a macroscopic limit, we find a non-trivial relation between the scaling dimension of the lowest dimensional CFT and BCFT charged operators to leading order in the charge. We also construct the superfluid effective field theory for theories with boundaries and use it to systematically calculate the BCFT spectrum in a systematic expansion. We verify explicitly many of the predictions from the EFT analysis in concrete examples including the classical conformal scalar field with a |ϕ|6 interaction in three dimensions and the O(2) Wilson-Fisher model near four dimensions in the presence of boundaries. In the appendices we additionally discuss a systematic background field approach towards Ward identities in general boundary and defect conformal field theories, and clarify its relation with Noether’s theorem in perturbative theories.

Superfluid field response to edge dislocation motion

We study the dynamic response of a superfluid field to a moving edge dislocation line to which the field is minimally coupled. We use a dissipative Gross-Pitaevskii equation, and determine the initial conditions by solving the equilibrium version of the model. We consider the subsequent time evolution of the field for both glide and climb dislocation motion and analyze the results for a range of values of the constant speed $V_D$ of the moving dislocation. We find that the type of motion of the dislocation line is very important in determining the time evolution of the superfluid field distribution associated with it. Climb motion of the dislocation line induces increasing asymmetry, as function of time, in the field profile, with part of the probability being, as it were, left behind. On the other hand, glide motion has no effect on the symmetry properties of the superfluid field distribution. Damping of the superfluid field due to excitations associated with the moving dislocation line occurs in both cases.

Dislocation Mobility and Anomalous Shear Modulus Effect in $$^4$$ 4 He Crystals

We calculate the dislocation glide mobility in solid $^4$He within a model that assumes the existence of a superfluid field associated with dislocation lines. Prompted by the results of this mobility calculation, we study within this model the role that such a superfluid field may play in the motion of the dislocation line when a stress is applied to the crystal. To do this, we relate the damping of dislocation motion, calculated in the presence of the assumed superfluid field, to the shear modulus of the crystal. As the temperature increases, we find that a sharp drop in the shear modulus will occur at the temperature where the superfluid field disappears. We compare the drop in shear modulus of the crystal arising from the temperature dependence of the damping contribution due to the superfluid field, to the experimental observation of the same phenomena in solid $^4$He and find quantitative agreement. Our results indicate that such a superfluid field plays an important role in dislocation pinning in a clean solid $^4$He at low temperatures and in this regime may provide an alternative source for the unusual elastic phenomena observed in solid $^4$He.

The initial-value problem for three-dimensional disturbances in plane Poiseuille flow of helium II

The time development of small three-dimensional disturbances in plane Poiseuille flow of helium II is considered. The study is conducted by considering the interaction of a normal fluid field and a superfluid field. The interaction is caused by a mutual friction forcing between the two flow fields. Specifically, the stability of the normal fluid affected by the mutual forcing is considered. Compared to the ordinary fluid case where the mutual forcing is not present, the presence of the mutual forcing implies a substantial increase of the transient growth of the disturbances. The increase of the transient growth occurs because the mutual forcing reduces the damping of the disturbances. The phase of transient growth becomes thereby more prolonged and higher levels of amplification are reached. There is also a minor effect on the transient growth caused by the modification of the mean flow owing to the mutual forcing. The strongest transient growth occurs for streamwise elongated disturbances, i.e. disturbances with streamwise wavenumber α = 0. When α increases beyond zero, the transient amplification quickly becomes reduced. Striking differences compared to the ordinary fluid case are that the largest transient amplification does not occur when the spanwise wavenumber (β) is close to two and that the peak level of the disturbance energy density amplification does not depend on the square of the Reynolds number.

Quantum nucleation of vorticity

It is shown that an instability toward quantum nucleation of vorticity is a general property of a superfluid field theory, and that this instability contributes to the existence of an intrinsic critical velocity. Using a duality transformation on the acoustic Nambu-Goldstone boson sector, it is shown that the instability is analogous to the creation of charged particle/antiparticle pairs in a strong background electric field. The connection with Ginzburg-Landau theory is made, and it is argued that many of the low temperature properties of 4 He can be found in this simple model. A question about Galilean invariance is answered.

Anomalous decay of turbulence in superfluid 4He.

The free decay of the quantized vortex tangle in a channel is observed to occur in two distinct stages, an initial rapid decay in agreement with current theory, followed by a regime of anomalously slow decay. It is argued that the second stage represents a state of coupled turbulence involving not only the quantized vortex tangle, but also macroscopic random motion of the normal and superfluid fields.

Superfluid vacuum carrying real Einstein-de Broglie waves

An earlier superfluid aether model pairing fermionic and antifermionic fields is invoked to explain Rauch's time dependent neutron interference results which now suggest that microobjects are waves and particles simultaneously. The covariant superfluid provides a medium which carries real Einstein-de Broglie “pilot” waves. Further consequences are discussed.

Size effects in superfluid field emission

A detailed experimental investigation has been made of the influence of chamber dimensions on field emission characteristics in liquid He. 4 The current was found to be a strong function of the emitter-collector separation, in satisfactory quantitative agreement with the predictions of a simple theory

Evidence for roton creation in a superfluid field emission diode near 0.5 K

The field emission current in Hell near 0.5 K is found to increase rapidly with pressure above above 10 bar. We suggest this may be because an increasing fraction of the current is being carried by ions moving at the Landau critical velocity.