Dynamical Vortices in Superfluid Films

TL;DR

This paper investigates the topological coupling of vortices to phonons in superfluid films, revealing a logarithmically divergent vortex mass and super-Ohmic dissipation, supported by numerical simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a topological gauge coupling framework for vortices in superfluids and computes the vortex mass and response, contrasting it with traditional models.

Findings

Vortex mass diverges logarithmically at low frequencies.

Super-Ohmic dissipation occurs in superfluid vortex response.

Numerical simulations support the theoretical predictions.

Abstract

The coupling of vortices to phonons in a superfluid is a gauge coupling dictated by topology. The density and current response to a moving vortex are computed and contrasted with the standard backflow picture. Exploiting the analogy to (2+1)-dimensional electrodynamics, we compute the effective vortex mass $M(\omega)$ and find it to be logarithmically divergent in the low frequency limit, leading to a super-Ohmic dissipation in response to an oscillating superflow. Numerical integration of the nonlinear Schroedinger equation supports these conclusions. Interaction of vortices and impurities is also discussed.