Quantum Dynamics of a Bose Superfluid Vortex

Abstract

We derive a fully quantum-mechanical equation of motion for a vortex in a 2-dimensional Bose superfluid in the temperature regime where the normal fluid density ρ(n)(T) is small. The coupling between the vortex "zero mode" and the quasiparticles has no term linear in the quasiparticle variables--the lowest-order coupling is quadratic. We find that as a function of the dimensionless frequency Ω=ℏΩ/k(B)T, the standard Hall-Vinen-Iordanskii equations are valid when Ω≪1 (the "classical regime"), but elsewhere, the equations of motion become highly retarded, with significant experimental implications when Ω≳1.