Cascade of vortex loops initiated by a single reconnection of quantum vortices

TL;DR

This paper shows that a single reconnection event between quantum vortices can trigger a cascade of vortex rings, which may lead to decay of vortex tangles in superfluid systems at very low temperatures.

Contribution

It introduces a novel mechanism where vortex reconnection initiates a cascade of vortex rings, contributing to vortex tangle decay, supported by high-resolution simulations.

Findings

Reconnection causes vortex ring cascade starting at atomic scale.

Vortex rings can penetrate and annihilate in the tangle boundaries.

Cascade mechanism offers an efficient decay process for vortex tangles.

Abstract

We demonstrate that a single reconnection of two quantum vortices can lead to creation of a cascade of vortex rings. Our analysis, motivated by the analytical solution in LIA, involves high-resolution Biot-Savart and Gross-Pitaevskii simulations. The latter showed that the rings cascade starts on the atomic scale, with rings diameters orders of magnitude smaller than the characteristic line spacing in the tangle. So created vortex rings may penetrate the tangle and annihilate on the boundaries. This provides an efficient mechanism of the vortex tangle decay in very low temperatures.