Wednesday Colloquia

Vortex Reconnection

by Prof. Katepalli Sreenivasan (New York University)

Wednesday, March 20, 2019 from to (Asia/Kolkata)
at Lecture Theatre ( AG-66 )
TIFR
Description
Fundamental to classical and quantum fluids, as well as superconductors, magnetic flux tubes, liquid crystals, cosmic strings, and DNA, is the phenomenon of how line-like objects cut and reconnect. I will report our work on this topic in quantum fluids: unlike in classical fluids where vorticity is a continuous field, it occurs in the form of isolated lines whose circulation is quantized, and so the phenomenon is easier to study in both concept and practice. I will discuss their experimental visualization as well as the scaling laws that govern their behavior before and after reconnection in both quiet and noisy environments, how the phenomenon leads to quantum turbulence, etc.