Coexistence and interplay of quantum and classical turbulence in superfluid He-4: Decay, velocity decoupling and counterflow energy spectra

TL;DR

This paper presents a comprehensive study of quantum and classical turbulence interactions in superfluid He-4, introducing a new model and analytical theory for energy spectra affected by mutual friction and counterflow effects.

Contribution

It offers a novel combined experimental, numerical, and theoretical model of decaying quantum turbulence in superfluid He-4, including an analytical description of non-Kolmogorov energy spectra.

Findings

Energy spectra are suppressed by mutual friction.

Counterflow causes decoupling of normal and superfluid velocities.

Dissipation occurs at all scales due to mutual friction.

Abstract

We report complementary experimental, numerical and theoretical study of turbulent coflow, counterflow and pure superflow of superfluid He-4 in a channel, resulting in a physically transparent and relatively simple model of decaying quantum turbulence that accounts for interactions of coexisting quantum and classical components of turbulent superfluid He-. We further offer an analytical theory of the energy spectra of steady-state quantum turbulence in the counterflow and pure superflow, based on algebraic approximation for the energy fluxes over scales. The resulting spectra are not of the classic Kolmogorov form, but strongly suppressed by the mutual friction, leading to the energy dissipation at all scales, enhanced by the counterflow-induced decoupling of the normal- and superfluid velocity fluctuations.