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arXiv · 1801.06951

Giant Vortex Clusters in a Two-Dimensional Quantum Fluid

Guillaume Gauthier·Matthew T. Reeves·Xiaoquan Yu·Ashton S. Bradley·Mark Baker·Thomas A. Bell·Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop·Matthew J. Davis·Tyler W. Neely
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Abstract

Adding energy to a system through transient stirring usually leads to more disorder. In contrast, point-like vortices in a bounded two-dimensional fluid are predicted to reorder above a certain energy, forming persistent vortex clusters. Here we realize experimentally these vortex clusters in a planar superfluid: a $^{87}$Rb Bose-Einstein condensate confined to an elliptical geometry. We demonstrate that the clusters persist for long times, maintaining the superfluid system in a high energy state far from global equilibrium. Our experiments explore a regime of vortex matter at negative absolute temperatures, and have relevance to the dynamics of topological defects, two-dimensional turbulence, and systems such as helium films, nonlinear optical materials, fermion superfluids, and quark-gluon plasmas.

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Guillaume Gauthier, Matthew T. Reeves, Xiaoquan Yu, Ashton S. Bradley, Mark Baker, Thomas A. Bell, Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop, Matthew J. Davis, Tyler W. Neely. 2018-01-22. Giant Vortex Clusters in a Two-Dimensional Quantum Fluid. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat5718

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