Abrupt Transition between Three-Dimensional and Two-Dimensional Quantum Turbulence

ALEXAKIS, ALEXANDROS; MÜLLER, NICOLÁS P.; MININNI, PABLO D.; BRACHET, MARC-ETIENNE

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

AMER PHYSICAL SOC

Año: 2020 vol. 124

0031-9007

We present numerical evidence of a critical-like transition in an out-of-equilibrium mean-fielddescription of a quantum system. By numerically solving the Gross-Pitaevskii equation we show thatquantum turbulence displays an abrupt change between three-dimensional (3D) and two-dimensional (2D)behavior. The transition is observed both in quasi-2D flows in cubic domains (controlled by the amplitudeof a 3D perturbation to the flow), as well as in flows in thin domains (controlled by the domain aspect ratio)in a configuration that mimics systems realized in laboratory experiments. In one regime the systemdisplays a transfer of the energy towards smaller scales, while in the other the system displays a transfer ofthe energy towards larger scales and a coherent self-organization of the quantized vortices.