Rotational quantum friction in superfluids: Radiation from object rotating in superfluid vacuum

TL;DR

This paper explores quantum rotational friction in superfluids, analyzing how rotating objects emit quasiparticles like phonons and rotons, leading to a frictional force analogous to radiation from rotating black holes.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical framework for quantum rotational friction in superfluids, connecting quasiparticle emission to analogs of black hole radiation phenomena.

Findings

Quantum tunneling of quasiparticles causes rotational friction.

Friction estimated for phonons, rotons, and fermions in superfluid helium.

Analogies drawn between superfluid quasiparticle emission and black hole radiation.

Abstract

We discuss the friction experienced by the body rotating in superfluid liquid at T=0. The effect is analogous to the amplification of electromagnetic radiation and spontaneous emission by the body or black hole rotating in quantum vacuum, first discussed by Zel'dovich and Starobinsky. The friction is caused by the interaction of the part of the liquid, which is rigidly connected with the rotating body and thus represents the comoving detector, with the "Minkowski" vacuum outside the body. The emission process is the quantum tunneling of quasiparticles from the detector to the ergoregion, where the energy of quasiparticles is negative in the rotating frame. This quantum rotational friction caused by the emission of quasiparticles is estimated for phonons and rotons in superfluid 4He and for Bogoliubov fermions in superfluid 3He.