Participants
Jake McMillan
A superfluid is characterised by a lack of viscosity, enabling it to flow without being slowed by friction. Unlike stirring a cup of tea, gently moving a solid object through a superfluid doesn't disturb its flow. However, exceeding a critical velocity disrupts superfluidity, creating swirling voids with no density known as vortices and introducing turbulence.
In contrast to established research, this project aimed to describe and characterise turbulence within an immiscible mixture of superfluids, akin to oil and water, by dragging one component through the other. The dynamics were successfully simulated, producing pairs of vortices and allowing a comprehensive description of the turbulent flows in novel characteristic regimes. Early-stage results were obtained for predicting these regimes using initial conditions, employing a quantum analogue of the Weber number, which classically characterises multi-fluid interactions.
Funded by: Newcastle University Research Scholarship
Project Supervisor: Dr Ryan Doran