Normal density and moment of inertia of a moving superfluid

Abstract

In this work, the normal density ${\rho }_n$ and moment of inertia of a moving superfluid are investigated. We find that, even at zero temperature, there exists a finite normal density for the moving superfluid. When the velocity of superfluid reaches sound velocity, the normal density becomes total mass density $\rho$, which indicates that the system losses superfluidity. At the same time, the Landau's critical velocity also becomes zero. The existence of the non-zero normal density is attributed to the coupling between the motion of superflow and density fluctuation in transverse directions. With Josephson relation, the superfluid density ${\rho }_s$ is also calculated and the identity ${\rho }_s+{\rho }_n=\rho$ holds. Further more, we find that the finite normal density also results in a quantized moment of inertia in a moving superfluid trapped by a ring. The normal density and moment of inertia at zero temperature could be verified experimentally by measuring the angular momentum of a moving superfluid in a ring trap.

6 pages

Cited by in corpus (1)

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