Superfluids dissipate!

People in Aalto University - located in Finland by the way - are doing excellent work: there is full reason to be proud! I learned from the most recent experimental discovery by people working in Aalto University from Karl Stonjek. The title of the popular article is Friction found where there should be none—in superfluids near absolute zero.

In rotating superfluid one has vortices and they should not dissipate. The researchers of Aalto University however observed dissipation: the finding by J. Mäkinen et al is published in Phys Rev B. Dissipation means that they lose energy to environment. How could one explain this?

What comes in mind for an inhabitant of TGD Universe, is the hierarchy of Planck constants h_eff =n×h labelling a hierarchy of dark matters as phases of ordinary matter. The reduction of Planck constant h_eff liberates energy in a phase transition like manner giving rise to dissipation. This kind of burst like liberation of energy is mentioned in the popular article ("glitches" in neutron stars). I have already earlier proposed an explanation of fountain effect of superfluidity in which superfluid flow seems to defy gravity. The explanation is in terms of large value of h_eff implying delocalization of superfluid particles in long length scale (see this).

Remark: Quite generally, binding energies are reduced as function of h_eff/h= n. One has 1/n² proportionality for atomic binding energies so that atomic energies defined as rest energy minus binding energy indeed increase with n. Interestingly, dimension 3 of space is unique in this respect. Harmonic oscillator energy and cyclotron energies are in turn proportional to n. The value of n for molecular valence bonds depends on n and the binding energies of valence bonds decrease as the valence of the atom with larger valence increases. One can say that the valence bonds involving atom at the right end of the row of the periodic table carry metabolic energy. This is indeed the case as one finds by looking the chemistry of nutrient molecules.

The burst of energy would correspond to a reduction of n at the flux tubes associated with the superfluid. Could the vortices decompose to smaller vortices with a smaller radius, maybe proportional to n? I have proposed similar mechanism of dissipation in ordinary fluids for more than two decades ago. Could also ordinary fluids involve hierarchy of Planck constants and could they dissipate in the same manner?

In biology liberation of metabolic energy - say in motor action - would take place in this kind of "glitch". It would reduce h_eff resources and thus the ability to generate negentropy: this leads to smaller negentropy resources and one gets tired and thinking becomes fuzzy.

See the chapter Quantum criticality and dark matter.

For a summary of earlier postings see Latest progress in TGD.

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