Quantum spirals

Abstract

Quantum systems often exhibit fundamental incapability to entertain vortex. The Meissner effect, a complete expulsion of the magnetic field (the electromagnetic vorticity), for instance, is taken to be the defining attribute of the superconducting state. Superfluidity is another, close-parallel example; fluid vorticity can reside only on topological defects with a limited (quantized) amount. Recent developments in the Bose-Einstein condensates produced by particle traps further emphasize this characteristic. We show that the challenge of imparting vorticity to a quantum fluid can be met through a nonlinear mechanism operating in a hot fluid corresponding to a thermally modified Pauli-Schroedinger spinor field. In a simple field-free model, we show that the thermal effect, represented by a nonlinear, non-Hermitian Hamiltonian, in conjunction with spin vorticity, leads to new interesting quantum states; a spiral solution is explicitly worked out.