Velocity circulation intermittency in finite-temperature turbulent superfluid helium

TL;DR

This paper investigates the intermittency of circulation moments in turbulent superfluid helium through experiments and simulations, revealing Kolmogorov scaling and anomalous exponents similar to classical and quantum turbulence.

Contribution

It provides the first combined experimental and numerical analysis of circulation intermittency in finite-temperature superfluid helium, highlighting universal scaling behaviors.

Findings

Circulation variance scales as r^{8/3} in the inertial range.

High-order moments exhibit anomalous scaling exponents.

Scaling behaviors are consistent across temperature regimes.

Abstract

We study intermittency of circulation moments in turbulent superfluid helium by using experimental grid turbulence and numerical simulations of the Hall-Vinen-Bekarevich-Khalatnikov model. More precisely, we compute the velocity circulation $\Gamma_r$ in loops of size $r$ laying in the inertial range. For both, experimental and numerical data, the circulation variance shows a clear Kolmogorov scaling $\langle \Gamma_r^2 \rangle \sim r^{8/3}$ in the inertial range, independently of the temperature. Scaling exponents of high-order moments are comparable, within error bars, to previously reported anomalous circulation exponents in classical turbulence and low-temperature quantum turbulence numerical simulations.