Mass-driven vortex collisions in flat superfluids

Quantum vortices are often endowed with an effective inertial mass, due, for example, to massive particles in their cores. Such massive vortices display new phenomena beyond the standard picture of superfluid vortex dynamics, where mass is neglected. In this work, we demonstrate that massive vortices are allowed to collide, as opposed to their massless counterparts. We propose a scheme to generate controllable, repeatable, deterministic collisional events in pairs of quantum vortices. We demonstrate two mass-driven fundamental processes: (i) the annihilation of two counter-rotating vortices and (ii) the merging of two corotating vortices, thus pointing out new mechanisms supporting incompressible-to-compressible kinetic-energy conversion, as well as doubly quantized vortex stabilization in flat superfluids.

Automated summary

Quantum vortices with effective inertial mass, introduced by massive particles in their cores, exhibit new phenomena beyond the standard picture of massless superfluid vortex dynamics. In this study, we propose a scheme to generate controllable and repeatable collisional events between massive vortices. We demonstrate two mass-driven fundamental processes: the annihilation of two counter-rotating vortices and the merging of two co-rotating vortices. This reveals new mechanisms for incompressible-to-compressible kinetic-energy conversion and the stabilization of doubly quantized vortices in flat superfluids.