Superfluidity

Superfluidity is the characteristic property of a fluid with zero

viscosity which therefore flows without loss of kinetic energy.
When stirred, a superfluid forms vortices that continue to rotate
indefinitely. Superfluidity occurs in two isotopes of helium
(helium-3 and helium-4) when they are liquefied by cooling to
cryogenic temperatures. It is also a property of various other
exotic states of matter theorized to exist in astrophysics, high-
energy physics, and theories of quantum gravity.[1] Superfluidity
is often coincidental with Bose–Einstein condensation, but
neither phenomenon is directly related to the other; not all Bose-
Einstein condensates can be regarded as superfluids, and not all
superfluids are Bose–Einstein condensates.[2] The
semiphenomenological theory of superfluidity was developed by
Lev Landau.

Helium II will "creep" along surfaces

in order to find its own level—after a
Contents short while, the levels in the two
containers will equalize. The Rollin
Superfluidity of liquid helium
film also covers the interior of the
Ultracold atomic gases larger container; if it were not sealed,
Superfluid in astrophysics the helium II would creep out and
escape.
In high-energy physics and quantum gravity
See also
References
Further reading
External links

Superfluidity of liquid helium

Superfluidity was originally discovered in liquid helium by Pyotr
Kapitsa and John F. Allen. It has since been described through
phenomenology and microscopic theories. In liquid helium-4, the
superfluidity occurs at far higher temperatures than it does in
helium-3. Each atom of helium-4 is a boson particle, by virtue of
its integer spin. A helium-3 atom is a fermion particle; it can form
bosons only by pairing with itself at much lower temperatures.
The discovery of superfluidity in helium-3 was the basis for the
award of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Physics.[1] This process is
similar to the electron pairing in superconductivity.
The liquid helium is in the superfluid
phase. A thin invisible film creeps up
the inside wall of the cup and down
on the outside. A drop forms. It will
fall off into the liquid helium below.
This will repeat until the cup is empty
—provided the liquid remains
superfluid.

Ultracold atomic gases

Superfluidity in an ultracold fermionic gas was experimentally proven by Wolfgang Ketterle and his team
who observed quantum vortices in 6Li at a temperature of 50 nK at MIT in April 2005.[3][4] Such
vortices had previously been observed in an ultracold bosonic gas using 87Rb in 2000,[5] and more
recently in two-dimensional gases.[6] As early as 1999 Lene Hau created such a condensate using sodium
atoms[7] for the purpose of slowing light, and later stopping it completely.[8] Her team subsequently used
this system of compressed light[9] to generate the superfluid analogue of shock waves and tornadoes:[10]

These dramatic excitations result in the formation of solitons that in turn decay into
quantized vortices—created far out of equilibrium, in pairs of opposite circulation—
revealing directly the process of superfluid breakdown in Bose-Einstein condensates. With a
double light-roadblock setup, we can generate controlled collisions between shock waves
resulting in completely unexpected, nonlinear excitations. We have observed hybrid
structures consisting of vortex rings embedded in dark solitonic shells. The vortex rings act
as 'phantom propellers' leading to very rich excitation dynamics.

— Lene Hau, SIAM Conference on Nonlinear Waves and Coherent Structures

Superfluid in astrophysics
The idea that superfluidity exists inside neutron stars was first proposed by Arkady Migdal.[11][12] By
analogy with electrons inside superconductors forming Cooper pairs because of electron-lattice
interaction, it is expected that nucleons in a neutron star at sufficiently high density and low temperature
can also form Cooper pairs because of the long-range attractive nuclear force and lead to superfluidity
and superconductivity.[13]

In high-energy physics and quantum gravity

Superfluid vacuum theory (SVT) is an approach in theoretical physics and quantum mechanics where the
physical vacuum is viewed as superfluid.

The ultimate goal of the approach is to develop scientific models that unify quantum mechanics
(describing three of the four known fundamental interactions) with gravity. This makes SVT a candidate
for the theory of quantum gravity and an extension of the Standard Model.

It is hoped that development of such theory would unify into a single consistent model of all fundamental
interactions, and to describe all known interactions and elementary particles as different manifestations of
the same entity, superfluid vacuum.

On the macro-scale a larger similar phenomenon has been suggested as happening in the murmurations
of starlings. The rapidity of change in flight patterns mimics the phase change leading to superfluidity in
some liquid states.[14]

See also
Boojum (superfluidity)
Condensed matter physics
Macroscopic quantum phenomena
Quantum hydrodynamics
 Slow light
Superconductivity
Supersolid

References
1. "The Nobel Prize in Physics 1996 - Advanced Information" (https://www.nobelprize.org/nobe
l_prizes/physics/laureates/1996/advanced.html). www.nobelprize.org. Retrieved
2017-02-10.
2. Minkel, JR. "Strange but True: Superfluid Helium Can Climb Walls" (https://www.scientificam
erican.com/article/superfluid-can-climb-walls/). Scientific American. Retrieved 2017-02-10.
3. "MIT physicists create new form of matter" (http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2005/matter.html).
Retrieved November 22, 2010.
4. Grimm, R. (2005). "Low-temperature physics: A quantum revolution". Nature. 435 (7045):
1035–1036. Bibcode:2005Natur.435.1035G (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2005Natur.4
35.1035G). doi:10.1038/4351035a (https://doi.org/10.1038%2F4351035a). PMID 15973388
(https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15973388).
5. Madison, K.; Chevy, F.; Wohlleben, W.; Dalibard, J. (2000). "Vortex Formation in a Stirred
Bose-Einstein Condensate". Physical Review Letters. 84 (5): 806–809. arXiv:cond-
mat/9912015 (https://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/9912015). Bibcode:2000PhRvL..84..806M (htt
ps://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2000PhRvL..84..806M). doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.806 (h
ttps://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRevLett.84.806). PMID 11017378 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.n
ih.gov/11017378).
6. Burnett, K. (2007). "Atomic physics: Cold gases venture into Flatland". Nature Physics. 3
(9): 589. Bibcode:2007NatPh...3..589B (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007NatPh...3..5
89B). doi:10.1038/nphys704 (https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fnphys704).
7. Hau, L. V.; Harris, S. E.; Dutton, Z.; Behroozi, C. H. (1999). "Light speed reduction to 17
metres per second in an ultracold atomic gas" (http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:
3636967). Nature. 397 (6720): 594–598. Bibcode:1999Natur.397..594V (https://ui.adsabs.h
arvard.edu/abs/1999Natur.397..594V). doi:10.1038/17561 (https://doi.org/10.1038%2F1756
1).
8. "Lene Hau" (http://www.physicscentral.com/explore/people/hau.cfm). Physicscentral.com.
Retrieved 2013-02-10.
9. Lene Vestergaard Hau (2003). "Frozen Light" (http://www.deas.harvard.edu/haulab/publicati
ons/pdf/HauScientificAmerican2003.pdf) (PDF). Scientific American: 44–51.
10. Hau, Lene (September 9–12, 2006). "Shocking Bose-Einstein Condensates with Slow Light"
(http://www.siam.org/meetings/nw06/hau.php). Society for Industrial and Applied
Mathematics.
11. A. B. Migdal (1959). "Superfluidity and the moments of inertia of nuclei". Nucl. Phys. 13 (5):
655–674. Bibcode:1959NucPh..13..655M (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1959NucPh..1
3..655M). doi:10.1016/0029-5582(59)90264-0 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0029-5582%285
9%2990264-0).
12. A. B. Migdal (1960). "Superfluidity and the Moments of Inertia of Nuclei" (http://www.jetp.ac.
ru/cgi-bin/e/index/e/10/1/p176?a=list). Soviet Phys. JETP. 10: 176.
13. U. Lombardo & H.-J. Schulze (2001). "Superfluidity in Neutron Star Matter". Physics of
Neutron Star Interiors. Lecture Notes in Physics. 578. pp. 30–53. arXiv:astro-ph/0012209 (h
ttps://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0012209). doi:10.1007/3-540-44578-1_2 (https://doi.org/10.100
7%2F3-540-44578-1_2). ISBN 978-3-540-42340-9.
14. Attanasi, A.; Cavagna, A.; Del Castello, L.; Giardina, I.; Grigera, T. S.; Jelić, A.; Melillo, S.;
Parisi, L.; Pohl, O.; Shen, E.; Viale, M. (2014). "Information transfer and behavioural inertia
in starling flocks" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4173114). Nature Physics.
10 (9): 615–698. arXiv:1303.7097 (https://arxiv.org/abs/1303.7097).
Bibcode:2014NatPh..10..691A (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014NatPh..10..691A).
doi:10.1038/nphys3035 (https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fnphys3035). PMC 4173114 (https://ww
w.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4173114). PMID 25264452 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.ni
h.gov/25264452).

Further reading
Annett, James F. (2005). Superconductivity, superfluids, and condensates. Oxford: Oxford
Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-19-850756-7.
Guénault, Antony M. (2003). Basic superfluids. London: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-7484-
0891-6.
Svistunov, B. V., Babaev E. S., Prokof'ev N. V. Superfluid States of Matter (https://www.crcp
ress.com/Superfluid-States-of-Matter/Svistunov-Babaev-Prokofev/p/book/9781439802755)
Volovik, G. E. (2003). The Universe in a helium droplet. Int. Ser. Monogr. Phys. 117. pp. 1–
507. ISBN 978-0-19-850782-6.

External links
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