Superfluids provide new insight into turbulence

Eddies in an exotic liquid known as a superfluid merge to form large vortices, analogous to how cyclones form in the turbulent atmosphere.

The new research, by a team from The University of Queensland, EQUS and FLEET will be important for emerging technological applications of superfluidity, such as precision sensing.

Lead author and theorist Dr Matt Reeves said the team’s results provide experimental validation of a 70-year-old theory—a model for two-dimensional vortex equilibrium by Nobel Laureate Lars Onsager.