Thermally- and mechanically-driven quantum turbulence in helium II

Abstract

Quantum turbulence can be generated in superfluid helium either thermally (by applying a heat flux, as in thermal counterflow) or mechanically (by stirring the liquid). By modelling the superfluid vortex lines as reconnecting space curves with fixed circulation, and the driving normal fluid as a uniform flow (for thermal counterflow) and a synthetic turbulent flow (for mechanically-driven turbulence), we determine the difference between thermally-driven and mechanically-driven quantum turbulence. We find that in mechanically-driven turbulence the energy is concentrated at the large scales, the spectrum obeys Kolmogorov scaling, vortex lines have large curvature, and the presence of coherent vortex structures induces vortex reconnections at small angles. On the contrary, in thermally-driven turbulence the energy is concentrated at the mesoscales, the curvature is smaller, the vorticity field is featureless and reconnections occur at larger angles. Our results suggest a method to experimentally infer the presence of superfluid vortex bundles.