Quantum Dynamics of a Bose Superfluid Vortex

Abstract

We derive a fully quantum-mechanical equation of motion for a vortex in a 2-dimensional Bose superfluid, in the temperature regime where the normal fluid density $\rho_n(T)$ is small. The coupling between the vortex "zero mode" and the quasiparticles has no term linear in the quasiparticle variables -- the lowest-order coupling is quadratic. We find that as a function of the dimensionless frequency $\tilde \Omega = \hbar \Omega/k_BT$, the standard Hall-Vinen/Iordanskii equations are valid when $\tilde \Omega \ll 1$ (the "classical regime"), but elsewhere, the equations of motion become highly retarded, with significant experimental implications when $\tilde \Omega \gtrsim 1$.