Crow instability in trapped Bose-Einstein condensates

TL;DR

This paper theoretically demonstrates the creation and instability of vortex-antivortex dipoles in trapped Bose-Einstein condensates, revealing their decay into vortex rings and potential implications for quantum turbulence cascades.

Contribution

It introduces a method to controllably create elongated vortex dipoles and analyzes their instability and decay processes in trapped Bose-Einstein condensates.

Findings

Vortex dipoles can be created using known experimental techniques.

Sufficiently long vortex dipoles are unstable and decay into vortex rings.

The instability may influence quantum turbulence cascades.

Abstract

We show theoretically that elongated vortex-antivortex dipoles can be created controllably in trapped Bose-Einstein condensates, using known experimental techniques. Vortex dipoles of sufficient length are unstable and cascade into slow vortex rings which ultimately decay via sound emission. This instability of antiparallel vortex line elements, which self-generates Kelvin waves on vortex loops and in trapped atomic gases, may play a role in bridging the Kelvin-wave and Kolmogorov-Richardson cascades of quantum turbulence.