Towards a Quantum Fluid Mechanical Theory of Turbulence

Abstract

Recent studies of turbulence in superfluid Helium indicate that turbulence in quantum fluids obeys a Kolmogorov scaling law. Such a law was previously attributed to classical solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations of motion. It is suggested that turbulence in all fluids is due to quantum fluid mechanical effects. Employing a field theoretical view of the fluid flow velocity, vorticity appears as quantum filamentary strings. This in turn leads directly to the Kolmogorov critical indices for the case of fully developed turbulence.