IL NUOO ('IMENTI)

VoL. XX. X. 3

1o Maggio 1961

Structure of a Quantized Vortex in Boron Systems (').

E. P. GRoss (**)

('ERN-

(;e~eva

(ricevuto il 9 Gennaio 1961)

Summary.
For a system of weakly repelling bosons, a theory of tile
elementary line vortex excitations is developed. The vortex state is
characterised by the presence of a finite fraction of the particles in a
single particle state of integer angular momentum. The radial dependence of the highly occupied state follows from a self-consistent field
equation. The radial function and the associated particle density are
essentially constant everywhere except inside a core, where they drop
to zero. The core size is the de Broglie wavelength associated with the
mean interaction energy per particle. The expectation value of the veloci t y has the radial dependence of a classical vortex. I n this Hartree
approximation the vorticity is zero everywhere except on the vortex
line. VVhen the description of the state is refined to include the zero point
oscillations of the phonon field, the vorticity is spread out over the core.
These results confirm in all essentials the intuitive arguments of ONSAOI~R
and FEYNMAN. The phonons moving perpendicular to the vortex line
are coherent excitations of equal and opposite angular m o m e n t u m relative to the substratum of moving particles that constitute the vortex.
The vortex motion resolves the degeneracy of the Bogoljubov phonons
with respe('t to the azimuthal q u a n t u m number.

1.

Introduction.

T h e i d e a t h a t l i q u i d h e l i u m p e r m i t ~ m a c r o s c o p i c v o r t e x t y p e m o t i o n s , as
does a n o r d i n a r y l i q u i d , has p l a y e d a k e y role i n s u g g e s t i n g a n d i n t e r p r e t i n g
a l a r g e n u m b e r of r e c e n t e x p e r i m e n t s . The e x p e r i m e n t s of VI~E.~ (x) p r o v i d e
(*) Work supported by the Office of Scientific Research, U.~. Air Force and by
the National Science Fundation.
(*') P e r m a n e n t adress, Brandeis University, Waltham, 5fass.
(1) H. E. HALL: Adv. i'~t Phys., 9, 89 (1960); K. R. ATKINS: Liquid Helium (Cambridge, 1959); ~V. F. VINEX: Physica Suppl., 24, 13 (1958).

S T R U C T U I { E (}F A t2UANT1Z]D VI~tCI'E'< IN

t~I}SItN S Y S T E M S

455

convincing evidence for the existence of free vortex lines with a circulation
q u a n t i z e d in units of h / m . Superposed on a field of vortex motions is the general phonon field. The idea of O~SA(~EU (3) and FEV33[AN (3), t h a t (.ireulation is quantized, m e e t s the objection t h a t if v o r t e x excitations of a r b i t r a r y
circulation and energy were p e r m i t t e d , there would be no superfluidity. On
the other h a n d if there were only p h o n o n - t y p e excitations, it follows f r o m
L a n d a u ' s well known a r g u m e n t based on Galilean invariance, t h a t the critical
flow velocity would be m u c h higher t h a n is observed experimentally. W i t h
the a s s u m p t i o n of quantized vortex lines and rings a qualitative explanation
of the low critical velocity becomes possible. The same is true of the behaviour
of r o t a t i n g helium and of m a n y other phenomena.
The description of a v o r t e x q u a n t u m mechanically has a n u m b e r of puzzling
aspects. Arguments, for and against the existence of vorticity h a v e been made.
~None have been precise enough to be universally convincing. Against the
existence of v o r t i c i t y cue ('an argue as follows. I n the wave function
~V(xx ... x ) = R exp[i(2/li)], S plays the role of a velocity potential when the
Schr5dinger equation is written in h y d r o d y n a m i c form. The existence of a
p o t e n t i a l seems to i m p l y t h a t there can be no vorticity. This has been one
objection to a t t e m p t s to relate macroscopic c o n t i n u u m q u a n t u m h y d r o d y n a m ics with v o r t e x motions to the properties of liquid helium. B u t it has not
b e e n shown, with reasonable definitions of the velocity and vorticity, t h a t
the v o r t i c i t y is everywhere zero. F o r example, if we define the density as

3"

i=1

the velocity,
v(x) -

(l'* b ( x -

x,) 7-- + = - 6 ( x - x~) T d ~ ,

one would h a v e to show t h a t the vorticity, curl v(x), is zero. At best one
can m a k e it plausible t h a t if S is slowly varying, and R not v e r y different
f r o m the ground state in certain spatial regions, the v o r t i c i t y is zero. There
is an essential distinction between the existence of a potential function
S ( x l , ..., x~) in 3N dimensional configuration space and potential flow of average
values of operators in ordinary space.
On the other hand, there is the more convincing reasoning of O~SAGEn
und F E ~ A ~ , which indicates t h a t there m a y be v o r t i c i t y in concentrated
regions. W e will t r y to p a r a p h r a s e their argument One m a y s t a r t b y con(3) L. 0NSAC,ER: Nuppl. iVuovo Gimento, 6, 2, 249 (1949),
(a) R. P. FEYN.~IAN: Prog. Low Temp. Phys.. Vol. I (Amsterdam, 1957), ch. 2;
Physica Nuppl., 24, 18 (1958).

456

E.P. ~Re)ss

sidering the flow in a m u l t i p l y connected region, for example~ between coxcentrie cylinders. Corresponding to a given state, say the ground state, there
N

should be other states in which S differs b y # ~ hv~, where /~ is an integer.

1=1

The new motions are those in which each particle has # units of angular mom e n t u m , i.e. the s y s t e m has a t o t a l angular m o m e n t u m N~#. W i t h o u t vorticity anywhere, there is nevertheless a circulation. W h e n the inner radius, ~o,
of the region is made small, if it is assumed t h a t the real p a r t of the wave
function is still essentially the ground state function, the e x p e c t a t i o n v a l u e
of the a z i m u t h a l velocity should be proportional to 1/9 , and the v o r t i c i t y still
essentially zero. B u t the situation becomes unclear as ~ shrinks to atomic
dimensions. An ideal classical line v o r t e x has a v o r t i c i t y zero everywhere,
except on the singular v o r t e x line; and has a characteristic 1/~ value of the
velocity. Q u a n t u m mechanically, the 1/~ b e h a v i o u r of the velocity can persist as ~--> 0 only if the real p a r t of the wave function drops essentially to
zero on the v o r t e x line. Otherwise the kinetic energy would become infinite.
B u t there m u s t be limitations on the definition of the position of the singular
line implied b y the u n c e r t a i n t y principle. So, one expects a core in which the
density will become small b u t not necessarily zero, and in which the velocity
will be finite. The v o r t i c i t y should be spread out over the core and should
drop continuously and rapidly to zero, as one moves out. T h a t these things
h a p p e n has not been shown in a detailed theoretical t r e a t m e n t .
S t a r t i n g f r o m the a s s u m p t i o n t h a t there exist such macroscopic excitations
with a core of atomic dimensions and with a quantized circulation, b u t otherwise b e h a v i n g like a classical vortex, FE~-~rA~~ (~) i n t e r p r e t e d a large n u m b e r
of p h e n o m e n a occurring in helium. This point of view was extended and
applied with great success b y HALL and INF~:~ (~) and others. I n spite of the
f u n d a m e n t a l i m p o r t a n c e of these physical ideas, b o t h practically and conceptually, v e r y little work has been done to relate the ideas to basic q u a n t u m
mechanics. I n s t e a d a t t e n t i o n has been concentrated recently on how the
p h o n o n - t y p e excitations, which are relatively well understood as a result of
the work of LA~NDA~r,]~0GOLJUBOV and FEY~NMAN, follow f r o m the m a n y - b o d y
t I a m i l t o n i a n . The purpose of the present p a p e r is to construct a theory of
the structure of the simple line vortex, and of the superposed p h o n o n - t y p e
excitations when a v o r t e x is present. We shall do this for the case of weakly
repelling bosons (or for a dilute gas of h a r d spheres) in the quantized field
description of the m a n y - b o d y problem. I n this limit a s y s t e m a t i c theory is
constructed which follows closely, and is essentially an application of the work
of references (4~) and (~). I t is close in spirit to Bogoljubov's f u n d a m e n t a l

(4) E. P. GRoss: _1~. Phys., a) 4, 57 (1958); b) 9, 292 (1960).

STRUCTUI{~E (}1' A ~ U A N T I Z E D

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457

p a p e r (5). The results agree in all essentials with the ideas of FEYN]~IAN a n d
O.NSAGER.

The m a i n features are already a p p a r e n t in the H a r t r e e approximation.

T h a t is to say, the possibility of describing a v o r t e x motion in a Bose fluid
is contained in this a p p r o x i m a t i o n . E a c h particle is in the same single particle s t a t e with angular m o m e n t u m ~ t a b o u t the z-axis. The single particle
s t a t e is a solution ['(~)cxp[i#9] of a self-consistent field (or semiclassical
self-interacting field; ref. (4,)) equation. I t has the r e m a r k a b l e p r o p e r t y t h a t
the density I]"(~)I ~ is substantially constant at distances greater t h a n a
length a. ~ e a r the v o r t e x core the density tends to zero like (~/a) ~.". I n the
semiclassical a p p r o x i m a t i o n the expectation value of the a z i m u t h a l velocity
is strictly proportional to 1/o, just as for a classical e l e m e n t a r y -cortex. The
core energy per unit length of v o r t e x line is finite. The radius of the core is
given v e r y simply as the de Broglie wavelength a = h / ~ / 2 M E , where E is the
m e a n interaction energy per particle nfV(x)dSx. F o r ~ gas of dilute h a r d
spheres, described b y a pseudopotential, this is .15 v ~ ( ~ / ~ / n ~ s ) , where ~ is
the sphere radius and n is the density. These results are obtained in Section 2
f r o m an exact solution of the semiclassical field equation. The connection of
such a solution with a YIartree wave function is discussed in ref. (da).
I n Section 3 we consider the small oscillations of the semiclassical field
a b o u t the exact solution, i.e. the phonon s p e c t r u m in the presence of a vortex.
The phonons are described as coherent excitations of pairs of particles of equal
~nd opposite angulur m o m e n t u m relative to the H a r t r e e s t a t e of angular mom e n t u m Nh/~. F a r f r o m the cortex core, where the fluid is hardly turning at
all, the phonons go over to the usual excitations of Bogoljubov (5). The v o r t e x
m o t i o n r e m o v e s the degeneracy of the Bogoljubov s p e c t r u m with respect to
the a z i m u t h a l q u a n t u m number.
I n Section 4 the classical considerations are p u t in a fully q u a n t u m mechanical form. One result is the lowering of the self consistent field estinaate of
the energy of a v o r t e x line because of the shift in zero point energy of the
phonons provided b y the n o r m a l mode analysis. In addition, consideration
of the f o r m of the wave function of a line v o r t e x shows t h a t the zero point
motions of the oscillations smear out the density p a t t e r n of the H a r t r e e field~
yielding ~ smull finite value a t the v o r t e x line. A t the saute t i m e the expect a t i o n value of the velocity drops to a finite value (in fact to zero in our
approximation), at the v o r t e x line. There is now a definite finite v o r t i e i t y
differing f r o m zero mainly in the core.
The s y s t e m a t i c q u a n t u m theory has been obtained b y first studying in
some detail the associated semi classical field theory. :Notably, we use special
solutions of the semi classical theory to suggest an a p p r o p r i a t e single particle

(5) ~. ~. ~BOGOLJUBOV:Journ. o] Phys. USSR. 9, 292 (196~).

458

E.P.

GROSS

basis, in t e r m s of which the quantized field is expanded. We use the small

oscillation analysis of the classical field to suggest a suitable quasi-particle
t r a n s f o r m a t i o n . This p a t t e r n of analysis (.an be extended to s t u d y more general t y p e s of v o r t e x excitations. I n order to obtain insight into the reason
for the success of the h y d r o d y n a m i c a r g u m e n t s of F e y n m a n , we transcribe
the semi-classical theory into h y d r o d y n a m i c form in Section 5. The main
differences from the usual equations of compressible flow are the non-local
pressure-density functional relation, and a q u a n t u m mechanical pressure term.
The l a t t e r is responsible for the vortex core structure. P r o v i d e d the cores are
well separated, complicated solutions of the equations can be obtained in the
s a m e w a y as in usual h y d r o d y n a m i c theory. E a c h p a t t e r n of flow represents
a wave p a c k e t of macroscopic duration. This opens the w a y to a consideration
of general h y d r o d y n a m i c flows of a s y s t e m of bosons, on a basis which has a
clear and definite q u a n t u m counterpart.

2. - S e m i - c l a s s i c a l

t h e o r y (4,,).

Consider the boson fluid governed by the H a m i l t o n i a n

h~

(2.1)

H =

,2~if vv,+ VWa3x + 1:,

"

) V(lx-

x' I )~(x) v2(x')dSxd~x ' .

The equation of motion of the field ~o is

(2.2)

i h ~ --

]12 + q,(x)f V(Ix-- ,,'L)/IV,(x')l~d~'x ',

2MW~

and will be studied as a classical field equation, of the self consistent field t y p e
in this section.
L e t us look for special exact solutions of the equations of motion possessing
cylindrical s y m m e t r y . W e p u t
(2.3)

g,(x) = f(r2) exp [itcO ] e x p

-- i )7~ ] '

where ~, 0, z are the cylindrical (.o-ordinates. The z component of tile field

angular m o m e n t u m associated with sueh a solution is
S= = , ~ j

\~p ~.~-- -~.~- ~v dSx = hla

[]12(o)dSx.

B u t the total n u m b e r of particles is N = f V ~ v d ~ x = f l / 1 2 d ~ x .

Thus the t o t a l
angular m o m e n t u m is N h t z , i.e. lilZ per particle. I n addition the local angular

S T R U C T U R E ~1" A Q U A N T 1 Z E I ) V~HYrEx

IN

B(~SON S Y S T E M S

4 5 '(`t

m o m e n t u m density is constant in time and equal to Ili2(~)h/~. The c o m p o n e n t

of the velocity of the field at a given space point m a y be defined as
l

1 h{

W ~f '..'M i

I~F

o PO

~ ?.0 ~' '

and is equal to h # / M e. I t exhibits the characteristic radial dependence of the

flow p a t t e r n of a classical line vortex. We shall see t h a t in contrast to the
usual incompressible (or even compressible) fluid the density ~o+~p----II(o)l ~
tends to zero as ~ - ~ 0 (at the vortex line). However, as ~ - + oo the density tends to a constant as is the case for the nsual vortex. The v o r t i e i t y
w ~ = (curl v ) ~ = (1/~)(~/3Q)(QI'~)= 0 everywhere except at the singular line.
B u t the circulation is F = j ' % ( d O . p ) = # h / M
:0, so t h a t we m a y write
v o = F/2:~o~. The radial function ](o) m u s t satisfy the equation

(2.4)

El--

,2~\;~(e~)--~

I(e) + ](o) V(!x--

x'ip!/(e')l'~d~.~ ''.

Since

V ( I x - x ' l ) = v ( v ' ( z - :')~+ o-~+ e ' ~ - 2e~' (~os(~ -~9~),

is i n v a r i a n t to the rotation 0 - + 0 ~ . . ~, ~ ' - + 0 ' + ~ , the assumed separation of
variables is indeed consistent.
To examine the behaviour of the function ]Qo), we consider first for simplicity the case of a short range potential, in fact Y ( I x - - x ' l ) = V
D(x--x').
W e h a v e in mind, more precisely, a pseudopotential (% At this stage of the
t h e o r y it can be t r e a t e d as a h-function. Then

(2.5)

~-:I

--._,M\~o.~)-

1 + l'lll(~o)i ~,

with

f :l(~,)!2d.~x =_ Y .
(For the s-wave pseudopotential V = S,~x(h~/M), where a is the radius of t h e
h a r d spheres.)
](o) m a y be t a k e n as real. F o r small Q, the centrifugal force t e r m dominates and

(6) K. }tUAN(~ an(I (~. N. YANk]: t~h!l.~. Rev., 105, 767 (1957); K. HUAN~', T. D. L ~
and C. X. Y~'*;: Phy,% Rer., 106, 1136 (1975).

460

E. 1~. (;ROSS

As e ---> c~
(2.7)

](e) -+ ]o = c o n s t a n t .

W e m u s t h a v e E=V]~.
The last r e m a i n i n g c o n s t a n t , ]2, is fixed b y the
n o r m a l i z a t i o n condition f l]~id3x= 5". This has a small finite c o n t r i b u t i o n
f r o m t h e core of t h e v o r t e x as N -+ ~o, ~ -+ c~. I n this limit
X

]2

--~ .(2

Y
=

L~R

~" '

where

L is t h e e x t e n t of the s y s t e m in the z direction a n d R is t h e radius of

t h e c y l i n d e r of (( q u a n t i z a t i o n ~>. T h u s ]~ is t h e m e a n n u m b e r density. The
b e h a v i o u r of ] as e ~+ c~ is quite r e m a r k a b l e . I t is b r o u g h t a b o u t b y the
n o n linear t e r m VII/12, i.c. the self-consistent field. I t is p h y s i c a l l y clear t h a t
t h e repulsive forces should force the s y s t e m to u n i f o r m d e n s i t y a l m o s t everywhere.
The e n e r g y of the fluid is o b t a i n e d b y s u b s t i t u t i n g the solution ]"(e) in H
~2

(2.s)

"

VM)/,,(o)

H--

d ( d I f' I

F o r t h e v o r t e x - f r e e case ( # - - 0 ) the lowest state is / o : ] 0 = e o n s t . , w i t h an

1 4
:~
e n e r g y H : ~]ofI
(s)d3s. W h e n ~ v o r t e x is p r e s e n t ( # 0 ~ 0), f'(e):/= ]o everyw h e r e a n d t h e r e is a finite correction to the p o t e n t i a l e n e r g y per u n i t l e n g t h
of the v o r t e x , arising f r o m the core. The b e h a v i o u r of the kinetic e n e r g y is,
h o w e v e r , m o r e i m p o r t a n t . If the kinetic e n e r g y is e v a l u a t e d w i t h ] ' ( e ) : / o
e v e r y w h e r e , the result is divergent, as o -+ 0. H o w e v e r , t h e a c t u a l ]t'(e ) -+ 0,
as e -+ 0, so t h a t t h e d e n s i t y of fluid tends to zero as t h e v e l o c i t y tends to c~,
in such a w a y t h a t the kinetic e n e r g y per u n i t l e n g t h of the v o r t e x core is
finite. The region outside the core (o > a) c o n t r i b u t e s a kinetic e n e r g y

g'/j

'= o de" 2L ---- 2 M /~' 2~L 1,1

--

]8 in a (2~L),

i.e., t h e c h a r a c t e r i s t i c l o g a r i t h m i c d e p e n d e n c e on the o u t e r radius of t h e

vortex.
F o r a m o r e general, b u t still essentially s h o r t - r a n g e potential, ](e) still
t e n d s to a c o n s t a n t f0 w i t h
(2.9)

E :

]o21V ( S ) d 3 S .
J

>'I'tlI'("I'UI/I:

(~I'

','l)l~'I'l':X

QI A. N I'IZEI)

IN

l~ll~,l~N

4-ti]

SY'TI:MS

T h e b e h a v i o u r for 9--> 0 is a g a i n t h e s a m e as for a & f u n c t i o n p o t e n t i a l , a n d

is d e t e r m i n e d e n t i r e l y b y t h e c e n t r i f u g M p o t e n t i a l .
I t is of c o u r s e n o t e a s y to find e x a c t s o l u t i o n s of t h e self c o n s i s t e n t field
e q u a t i o n for ] ' ( o ) . H o w e v e r , i t is e a s y to find a n a c c u r a t e e s t i m a t e of t h e
size of t h e v o r t e x core. W e use o u r k n o w l e d g e of t h e e x a c t b e h a v i o u r a t s m a l l
and large distances and assume that
(2.10)

]"(<j) = Aj~

D=

o < a,

=/o,

9 > ~.

A is f i x e d b y t h e c o n t i n u i t y r e q u i r e m e n t a t 9 = a,

(2.]:i)

A=

t<,!),,

D_>

T h e c o n t i n u i t y of t h e r a d i a l d e r i v a t i v e s of ] r e q u i r e s

(2"]')

~tt

k~ o'o

,,=o.

T h i s fixes t h e core size a~, in t e r m s of t h e p o s i t i o n of t h e first zero of dj"td O.

We have
/~ = 1

a] - -

.~( . 5 9 ) .

"~ 2 M E
/~ - -

/~ l a r g e

(% =

.~(.'57),

a,, =

(p

--

.26~ffi)

:For # = 1 t h e core size is of t h e o r d e r of t h e de B r o g l i e w a v e l e n g t h a s s o c i a t e d

w i t h t h e m e a n enerody of i n t e r a c t i o n p e r p a r t M e E----V]~. F o r a d i l u t e gas
o f h a r d s p h e r e s of r a d i u s a, m a s s M, V
S~(~D"-/3I) a n d we h a v e

. ' = {.5UT~ .~) ~:

"i.e.: t h e v o r t e x r a d i u s is l a r g e r t h e n t h e h a r d s p h e r e r a d i u s b y tile f a c t o r
1 ( p a r t i c l e sep.,.ration/~
? t sphere l~fiilis-- ! "
T h i s i n d i c a t e s t h a t in a m o r e d e n s e gas, t h e v o r t e x w o u l d h a v e a size a b o u t
e q u a l t o t h e i n t e r p a r t i e l e s p a c i n g . B u t we c a n n o t b e sm'e for t h e zero p o i n t
m o t i o n s of t h e p h o n o n s a r e as i m p o r t a n t as t h e s e l f - c o n s i s t e n t field.
30

- II N u o v o

Cimento.

462

E.P. GROSS

The energy associated with this a p p r o x i m a t e solution m a y be o b t a i n e d

readily. W e define the p u r e numbers

y:i~Sd,~
eft=

(2.13)

oJ ~ ( G )

IgSdS

D r = o "4

z~[ jo(S.)j,(s,)]

where S" are the roots S I =

fl2dZx = N yields

(.59), $ 2 = (.97), ....

(2.1~)

_ fo/"~
/ ~ - .~'
+

2~L

Then the normalization of

R
- ~ -- ,,q

'

The energy is

(2.15)

h~ (

D,

1"/~

h2 1 R

I n addition to the potential enerKy of the quiescent fluid and the logarithmic
v o r t e x energy there is the finite correction (as R -~ cxD) per unit length of t h e
v o r t e x core. I f we write In (R/a)= In (R/b)--ln (a/b), we can m a k e the corrections vanish b y taking
C~ + D,~

4-

In a

3;

a1

bl-~-.

Then b is a ((pseudo ~> radius of the v o r t e x core.

W e m i g h t i m p r o v e the above estimates b y taking a m o r e refined trial
function /'(~) and using the v a r i a t i o n principle for the energy with ] subject
to fl2d3x= N. B u t the results differ f r o m the above in only u n i m p o r t a n t
ways. I t is m o r e i m p o r t a n t to consider the possibility, t h a t for a given #,
there exist other solutions, with nodes, of the self-consistent field equations.
This requires more detailed study. I f t h e y exist, t h e y would h a v e to be stable
to be directly relevant.
W e note in conclusion t h a t the results of this section m a y be o b t a i n e d
directly in configuration space. The H a r t r e e a p p r o x i m a t i o n is k~'(x, ..., x ~ ) =
dV

= (1/~/~) 1-I ]"(~,) exp [ i # ~ ] , and represents a fixed n u m b e r of particles.

The

j=l

function ]'(Q~) is the same one t h a t is used in the field picture. The a d v a n t a g e
of the field point of view appears in the introduction of quasi-particles, as discussed in the n e x t section. This is done at the expense of working with a n
indefinite n u m b e r of particles, and an indefinite angular m o m e n t u m .

S T R U C T U R E OF A QUANTIZ]I) VERTTLX IN BOSO_N SYSTE318

463

3. - Small oscillations of the fluid about a vortex motion.

W e h a v e shown t h a t there is an exact solution of the classical equations

of m o t i o n involving circulation. I t differs from a h y d r o d y n a m i c v o r t e x in
t h a t the structure of the core is fully determined, and the density goes to zero
a t the singular v o r t e x line.
I n the classical theory of the wave field, the n e x t step is to examine the
small oscillations of the s y s t e m a b o u t the exact solution. We p u t

v, = exp [-- i ,:t]

t, J {/~(e) exp [ i ~ ] + ~(x, t)},

(3a)

and linearize the equations of motion.

One finds for a &function p o t e n t i a l

-- E)m V/2(O) exp [i#va]

(exp [--/tr~]q~ + exp [i/~va]qJ+},
t o g e t h e r with the complex conjugate equation.
I t corresponds to the H a m i l t o n i a n

(3.3)

H.2 --

h: f(p + V ~ d a x =' I ~ j f ~ ( 9 ) { 7 + exp [i#~]

2~1

exp[--i/x~]}~dSx,

which is positive definite. The same result holds for more general positive
interactions V ( I x - - Y I).
To analyse the normal mode spectrum, we define a complete set of orthon o r m a l functions as the eigenfunctions of the linear operator

(3.4)

Z'--

2 M v~ + V I I (~'! -- E .

We shall continue to work with the &function, in spite of the f a c t t h a t one

m u s t use a p s e u d o p o t e n t i a l to avoid a divergent t o t a l zero-point energy f r o m
the shifted n o r m a l modes. The s p e c t r u m itself is quite definite and finite.
We write

(3.5)

464

E.p.

(;R<,s~

where
1

V...... --

- exp l i~:] exp [imO]g~.,.(o) ,

"V 2 ~ L

(3.6)

.q*:"A~)9~,.~(o)o

d,, = ~ . +

T h e superscript f, is to e m p h a s i z e t h a t the set of f u n c t i o n s d e p e n d s on the

s t a t e of v o r t e x excitation. The eigenvalues E~ d e p e n d on lint because of the
cylindrical s y m m e t r y of the potential V i]'(.o)j'-. W e will w o r k with s t a n d i n g
waves. The functions g~,,~(Q) can be t a k e n to be real a n d defined in a large
cylindrical region, with the b o u n d a r y conditions
a ~' (o =

(3.7)

J o , m ,

R) =

O.

W e note t h a t
g t,o , , , -

E"o,~ = E ,

f~'(e) ,

w h e r e we write a = 0 for t h e lowest possible value of a.

g"o.., =

g"~.-,,, ;

....... =

W e also h a v e

7- .... -,,,"

L e t us n o w e x p a n d

(3.8)
T h e n eq. (3.2) is e q u i v a l e n t to

(3.9)

{ih ~ - -

'

E + 2 M ]~ a ....... =
=

~ {F" (,~,~ [ ,~' ,~),~.,o,,,,, + F (,~m [,, 2~,

m)a +
. . . . ,.~,_,,,} ,

o"

where
f
l(~'m') = V tg~.,,g~,,,,,(/")2edo

F* = F.

I t follows t h a t

(3.10)

il, ~-

(E~,2,,-,,, - - E +

h,~'~ql

,,TYl}J ~ . . . . .

="-=

= ~ {F"(,~, ~/~ - m l~', 2,u - mlaL,.+.~,,_~, + f " ( ~ , 2~, - m l~', m)a,.o,.,,,}.

ty'

S T I ( U ( " I ' I ' I I F ()I" A

Q U . ~ N T I Z I : I I VIq','I'I:X IN

BI~S')N

SYS'fl';MS

4(j5

The d o m i n a n t feature of these equations is the strong coupling of a ....... and

a+- .... w-,,,"
There is a less i m p o r t a n t (.oupling of the radial modes. I n the
absence of vortex motion (/* = 0), the coupling is t h a t of equal and opposite
linear nmnlenta, i.e. Bogoljubov's theory, here desmibed in cylindrical
co-ordinates. When there is a vortex, the annihilation operator of angular
m o m e n t u m m --/* relative to the vortex ang'ular m o m e n t u m is strongly coupled
to the creation operator of angular m o m e n t u m - - ( m - - / * ) relative to the
vortex. This actually involves a net loss of ang'ular m o m e n t u m in the smM1
amplitude approximation. I n the q u a n t u m version the state vector for the
v o r t e x contains pail's of particles of equal and opposite angular m o m e n t u m
excited out of the vortex ((reservoir)>. There is a loss of 2/* units of angular
m o m e n t u m for each pair~ since it comes from the moving s u b s t r a t u m which
is treated as fixed. Tile state is one of indefinite angular m o m e n t u m and is
analogous to, b u t in addition to, the description in terms of an indefinite n u m b e r
of particles in the usual boson theory.
Let us consider only the terms in which a ' = (~, thus neglecting the radial
m o d e coupling. W e look for solutions where a and a + have the time behaviour
e x p [ - - i e t / h ] . (The fact t h a t this violates the requirement t h a t 9)+ be the herm i t i a n conjugate of 7 is taken care of by the fact t h a t there is a corresponding
solution exp [ + iet/]i].)
(3.11)

a ....... = A . . . . . exp [-- i e t / h ] ,

a ....... = exp [-- ~et/ti]. ~.....

4 +

The energy s is given as

+ A..~,~._ ,,, - - d ....... ,
(3.12)

e 24- s { F ( a , 2/,
--

).

m)

,~,<2t* - ,,~ T

F(am jam)} =
2/* --

2/*

F ( a m ]cr, 2 / , - - m) F(a~ 2/* - - m [ a , m) ,

E ..... - -

2M

"

The eigenveetor is
(3.13)

A ......

F ( a , , Ia. 2t, - - m)

I n complete analogy with the usual boson theory, the variables

b . . , . = cosh y a ....... + sinh y a +.... 2.-,,, ,

(3.14)

b+- ~.o,2,, -,,, = sinh 73 ....... + e o s h y a, + .... 2#-,,,,

y = y ..... ,

466

E.P. GROSS

are connected b y a canonical transform to the a, a +. They oscillate harmonically as

i/i b..... -----e~a~ b..... .
(Compare eq. (4.12) to (4.16) for the values of ~ . ~ . . )
F o r the case t h a t there is no vortex, we should recover the results of BoGOLJt~OV. L e t us review how this comes about. Our t r e a t m e n t is unfamiliar,
first because we are using cylindrical co-ordinates, and second because we have
expanded in standing waves. The first step has been the determination of the
self-consistent field fl'Qo). The function ]"(Q) obeys equation (2.5) with # = 0.
I t is independent of ~ as ~ - + 0 . We have also E : V ( J ) ~. B u t with the
b o u n d a r y condition (3.7), as ~ - + R , J must adjust to our demand
]o(q = R ) = 0. The function drops to zero within a distance ~ / ~ / 2 ~
of the
cylinder of quantization. This is the same characteristic length t h a t occurs
in the core size argument. Thus the ground state contains a finite fraction of
the particles in a single-particle state which is essentially a constant except
near the boundary. This is substantially the starting point of the usual t h e o r y
as developed with periodic b o u n d a r y conditions. The details of ]o(~) near the
b o u n d a r y complicate the analysis, b u t are not essential for m a n y purposes.
I t is clear t h a t the semiclassical starting point offers a natural way of treating
general b o u n d a r y conditions. The highly occupied single-particle state, as
d e t e r m i n e d b y a self-consistent field equation, tends to uniform density except
near the boundary. One can impose the condition t h a t the wave function
vanish, just as one can impose periodic conditions, without creating artificial
difficulties which occur in other methods. These difficulties arise because the
standing-wave solutions of the SchrSdinger equation for non-interacting part i d e s have large density variations t h r o u g h o u t the box.
W h e n there is no vortex, the functions go.m(Q) are ordinary Bessel functions
i,~(a~), with the quasi-continuous values of a determined b y j~(aR) = 0 and with
. E ~ - - E = J~2a2/2M. The energy normal-mode-frequencies are

(3.15)

~
e2 = ~

/ h2

( ~ + ~ ) [.~]/(a~+ ~?) + 2F(am [ ~ )

}.

Now the m a t r i x element

,~(o) g,m(J)~ed o ,
is just ~,.o,(/o)2 and is independent of m. Thus the frequency spectrum of the
excitations is degenerate with respect to the azimuthal q u a n t u m number.
Eq. (3.15) is of course Bogoljubov's spectrum, as written in cylindrical coordinates. In the special case of no vortex, the entire H a m i l t o n i a n / / 2 is made

STRUCTURE OI" A QUANTIZEI) V~)HTEN IN B,tS{)N SYSTEMS

467

diagonal b y the simple normal mode transformation, i.e. there is no radial

mode coupling. Thus we see how the usual theory is contained in the present
description.
W h e n there is a quantized vortex, there are modifications of the normal
mode frequencies and eigenvectors. The most striking feature of eq. (3.12)
is the removal of the m degeneracy. The only remaining degeneracy is t h a t
eq. (3.12) is invariant to the substitution s --> - - s, m ~- 2 # - - m. This reflects
the possibility of forming standing waves relative to the vortex. The modes
with different m values represent different motions relative to the vortex and
are therefore p e r t u r b e d differently.
A more detailed s t u d y of the normal mode spectrum m a y be made if one
takes a crude approximation to the (~self-consistent ~) potential
f

U(x) =iV(Ix

d3x ' ,

- x'l )IF(,.,')[-'

U(x)--~ 0

for ~ < a ,

(3.16)
E

for Q > a ,

where a depends on /~.

Thus a cylindrical well will be used to generate an approximation to the
o r t h o n o r m a l basis ~ . ~ . . This leads to

I g~.m = ~],,(a'a) ,

~ < a,

(3.17)
where

= \ ]~-]

'

"=\1~

(E~--E)

a n d ~, fl, y depend on a and m. The conditions t h a t go.m and its radial derivative be continuous at Q----a fix fl and ~ in terms of ~, i.e.
.

L~,(cr a) = fl?,~(aa) + 7n,,(aa) ,

(3.18)
tl(ff a )

(l(O'a)

d(~a )

I n turn, ~ is fixed b y the requirement t h a t g,.m be normalized.

values of a are determined b y
(3.19)

go.re(R) -= fljm(aR) + 7n,~(~lR) = 0 ,

The possible

468

E. i,. (;R(~s,-

There are of course shifts f r o m the v o r t e x f~ee values in the p e r m i t t e d values

of a of order l / R , and associated shifts in E , = E + (h~(r~/2M). There will
be additional shifts in the n o r m a l m o d e frequencies e....... . This gives rise to
a change in zero point energy. We can c o m p u t e the difference in zero-point
energies with and w i t h o u t a v o r t e x as
~ ~ (~, ~-

(3.20)

y.cr11l
using eq. (3.12).
The e x a m i n a t i o n of the phase-shifts is
scattering of a p h o n o n f r o m a vortex. I t
separate t r e a t m e n t , which will be carried
L e t us now sketch the modifications
potential. The operator L" becomes
b~
(3.21)

LI,=

2M

closely related to the theory of t h e

is sufficiently interesting to w a r r a n t
out in a separate paper.
to be expected for a more general

v~-~ly(Ixx'l)~j ~
j

),'d3x'-- E

The (~potential ~ is again cylindrically symmetrical.

(3.22)

We expand

V ( [ x - - x' I) -- ) , ~ W~, ,,r(o, o') exp [ix(z -- z')] exp [im'(O -- 0')].

The ~ potential ,~ is
(Wo.o(_o, ~')l/"(o')] 2o' d o ' .
The equation for the small oscillations is

(3.23)

(il~tm~V~)t={fY(x--x')[f'(,,')l~d~x'--E}qj+
r(Q) exp [i~]f)'(~ - ~')/,'(~') (exp [- i~,~'] ~,(~')

+ exp

[~,~,] ~+(~,)) d,x'.

E x p a n d i n g in t e r m s of the basis ~v...... , we find eq. (3.9) and (3.10) with the
replacements

(3.24:)

~=

ff .od,,e. , d o /r p (o)g,,m(o)
/~t
W~.,~_,,(o,

o')/~(e ')g.,..,,(~o').

The rest of the t h e o r y is then developed as before.

Yaq'Ru("FI_IH; Ill." A ( ? U A N T I Z I ; I ) \',~I,"I'LX I x` !:,}-,~N

-Y<'rlq'q~

46!)

4. - Quantum theory.
There are many, essentially related ways, of developing tile q u a n t u m t h e o r y
of weakly interacting bosons which yield identical results in the lowest approximations. We adopt tile general approach of Section 4 of reference (ab),
which is in particularly close correspondence to the semielassieal theory. In
this approach the main new point in the q u a n t u m theory is that the approximate eigenstates no lon~'er correspond to a sharp wdue for certain constants
of the motion. Thus the classical solution exl)[--iEt/l~]]~'(o)exp[i/~v ~] corresponds to fixed, time-independent values of the n u m b e r functional
and the angular m o m e n t u m fun,.tional ,L
(b/2i) I'(V0+(~V,/~,9)- (~0+/~0)W) d~x.
In the q u a n t u m theory, the approximate eigenstates of H have g'iven expect a t i o n values for the operators No,, aml J:, but are not exact eigenstates.
This is particularly apparent in the case of the n u m b e r operators. The phase
factor exp[--iEt/h] m a y be removed from the field operators b y the timedependent canonical transformation U = e x p [ i ( E t / h ) X J
which changes the
Hamiltonian to H - - E N o s .
This is equivalent, in the q u a n t u m theory to
introducing the Lag'range multiplier E and determining it b y the condition
t h a t the expectation value of Noo is N. To find approximate eigenstates of
the Hamiltonian which are also exact eig'enstates of X and J:, one has to
apply projection operators in the present formalism. For the vortex state,
t h e y are of the order of N partieles in a single-particle state of angular mom e n t u m /~# with a v o r t e x - t y p e radial dependence. This amounts to a total
angular m o m e n t u m of Nhtt. In the q u a n t u m theory we oug'ht to introduce
another Lagrange nmltiplier o9, to be determined by the requirement t h a t the
expectation value of J~ is Xtt#
We shall therefore s t u d y the effective Hamiltonian 24' = H - - E N o s - - O ) ( ' L ) o , a
The quantized field is expanded in a complete basis similar to t h a t of Section 3.
The Hamiltonian is

~Vo~--jv,+wd~.

(4.1)

j/to = ~ , { ( K ( , m [ T I K C m ) - - ( E - - f w > m ) b ~ , ,

} <~~,~,%~+
,

q- ~. (K~m; . K'Cm'IGIK"a"m" ; K " a ' m " )

+
+ a~i"a'm" ~K"t~"m ....
~ K+a m ({K'a'm

Eere
(4.2)

(KamlT]K'a"n')

2M

)%""'V-~cK'~"cd:~x

6 ......
,aK~,(-b-'\F,
.
.
_.~'JI)Jg'"("){D"
/)o

- -

1 (d)
--

m"-o2

K ~1 r,~,,,~odo
.
_ ~,

470

E . r . c~Ross

and

(4.3)

<.Kam; K' a'm' ]G IK"a"m"; K ' " a ' m " ? --

-- ~-

do o' do' WL,,,(o, {J )go~(o)g~",~,(9)go,~+(~ )ge',~=(9 )"

G contains factors 5 + . ,+ ,,6~+x,~,+x~.

W e n o w i n t r o d u c e the u n i t a r y t r a n s f o r m a t i o n

(4.4)

W~ = exp [Coo/,aoo~,
+ -- coo~,
* ao+,]

e x p r e s s i n g t h e privileged role of the single particle state.

(~.5)

Then

W 1aoof,W-1x = Coo~,-4- aoo~, .

:For s i m p l i c i t y we write Coo~ = c a n d aoo~ = a s.

T h e t r a n s f o r m e d H a m i l t o n i a n is expressed in t h e f o r m
4

W I . ~ W ~ 1 ----- ~ . ~ ,

(4.6)

i=0

with
gfo = ((00g TT l 0 0 g ) - - E -

h ~ o / ~ ) I v ? (00/~; 00~ [V 100/~; 0 0 g ) I c ? l e l 2 ,

g l = E ' { ( 0 a g I T 100#) - - (E -4- he)g)} a + -4- h. c. -4-

+ ~{(o~g; oog[o[oog; oog) + (oo~; oa~Io[oog; OOg)}~+e*e~+h. e.,

~ = ~ {(gain I T IK'o'm') -- (E + ~)6~o)a+~o, ~ + ~ +
4- 2 ]e [2 ~_ {(Kam; 00# ]G ] g a ' m ; 00#)-4-(gam; 00g ] G [ 00ju; K'o'm'))a+a~a~,,,~
4- c ~ , ( K a m ; - - K a ' , 2 / x - - m ] V ] 0 0 g ; O0#)a+
~ f s = 2e ~. ( K a m ; K ' a ' m ' ] G [ K K ' ,

a_~.,,2~,_,~.4, h. c. ,

a", m m m ' - - g ;

O0#)a+a.,a~,.,~,
a~+~,,..,,~+m,_l, + h. c . ,

~,=

H, .

I n t h e limit of w e a k l y i n t e r a c t i n g bosons ]cooj,]2 is N , b u t for finite intera c t i o n s t h e r e is a depletion effect which reduces t h e v a l u e to a finite f r a c t i o n
of /~. I n t h e limit of w e a k i n t e r a c t i o n s t h e f u n c t i o n is d e t e r m i n e d b y t h e

STRUCTURE

OF

A QUANTIZED

VORTEX

IN

condition t h a t d(f1 vanishes. There will then be no constant t e r m

equation of motion of the a~om. This leads to the requirement

(4.7)

471

Y~oSI)N S Y S T E M S

in the

2hM~ V o"%0, + [c]~%o~,(x)f V ( x -- y) ]Cfoo~(y) l~d3y = (E + tio~tt)cfoo,(x) .

This is substantially the same as eq. (2.4) of the semielassical theory. I t

is the same condition as 8~o/SCfoo~,= 0 for fixed [c[ 2, subject to the multiplier conditions
Cfoo~l2d'~x = 1 ,

i]~

.oo~ Cqo,~,
?,~ d*~x= It#.

The operator which takes the place of the L ~' of eq. (3.21) is

(4.8)

L~=-

h~ V ~ + [cl~/ V ( j x - - Y [ ) l % " ( Y ) I ~ d ~ Y - - (E + hcott) .

2-Jl

If we use the eigenfunctions and eigenvalues ~,.~, E~.o of L ~', and multiply

(4.9)

Lt'cf~,~ = E ~ o T ~ m ~= E ~ -

E + ]to):~ + 2 M ] 7:E~,~,

b y ~,~,
* , and integrate over space, we find
(4.10)

( K ' a ' m ' ] Y ] K a m } - - (E 4- ]io)m) ~,~, 5~.o, ~m.m' 4-

4- 2 ]c]~(K'Cm'; 00# [G [ K a m ; 00#) = E~o~,~,5...,(5 .... ,.

~F~ then takes the simple form
(4.11)

jtf~ = ~ E ~ a + m a ~ . , ~ 4 - 2 ~ . l c ] 2 ( K a r a ; O O t t ] G ] O O t t ; g a m ) a', ~ , ~ +: o , ma 4 4- ~ ( K a m ; - - K , a', 2 ~ - - m I G ] O 0 # ;

+
O0#)c 2 a~oma_~:..,
,t,_~ 4- h. c.

The main point is the strong coupling of a~.om to a_x...~._~. We m a y again

partially diagonalize ~ (neglecting the coupling of the radial modes) b y introducing the normal mode transformation W2.
W~ a ~ .... W-~ 1 ~

(4.12)

'

W~a+~.o.~t,_m
W; ' ~

'+

a+

472

E.P.

(;ROS,~

With

{ d~o,~ = E ~o,,, -- '2 ' c ]" (Kcrm : 00u i(; ; ()0tt : K a m ) ,

(4.13)
we find for Yxo~

(4.14)

(1 + tgh 2 y~,,~) + ).eo,,~ tgh ),a..... = 0 .

T h e zero p o i n t e n e r g y is
(1.15)

~o = ~ g~ .... {sinh~

-- .

sinh :27K~,,. r
J

Ko~n

while the s p e c t r u m of excitations is

+

(4.16)
where

sinh "z2),Ko,,,/
Thus, we h a v e
[+
W 2 ~ 2 W ; 1 = SO+ ~ ( A . ~ r a a K ~ , n ~ l . m

! ~

, '

(4.17)

+ ~: c~(K~,,; Ko', 2~-- ,~ IGIo0~,: 0o,)(%,,/~o, ~,_~)' + h. c.

O~rl'

I n t h e lowest a p p r o x i m a t i o n , ne~'leeting depletion effects a n d the m o d i ficutions of t h e self consistent p o t e n t i a l arising f r o m elose collisions, I c0o,l~= 37
a n d t h e L a g r a n g e multiplier o) is zero. The results are t h e n e x a c t l y t h e s a m e
as for t h e semi-classical t h e o r y , a n d m a i n l y p r o v i d e a f o r m a l justification for
a d d i n g t h e shift zero-point e n e r g y of the oscillations to the self-consistent
field e n e r g y of the v o r t e x state. The state veetors in this a p p r o x i m a t i o n are
~ffnew: W][ W2~old, where (i~ol1 r u n s throuo'h a set of states consisting of a
v a c u u m s t a t e ~o such t h a t a~,crP o = 0, a n d a set of states o b t a i n e d b y opera t i n g s e p a r a t e l y on o with t h e creation o p e r a t o r s

~,~,,, ---

,*(x)q'Ao,,,(.r) d~x ,

~o.: exp [2 (e<--~,%)].exp LZ--,

t~-[ z o m [ ',+
/~'am~+
x,a,2~
(l

m--

l,.c.)]-~o,~

~,TR/'I'TItlJc;

tpl" A t,~IAN'I'IZEI)

V~)tI'I'I:X

IN BI)SI~N

~Y>'I'I';M <

4~73

I t is of some interest to e x a m i n e the exi)ectation values of p h y s i c a l q u a n tities to see the modifications of the self consistent field a p p r o x i m a t i o n i n d u c e d
b y the zero-point m o t i o n s of the field. The e x p e c t a t i o n v a l u e of the d e n s i t y is
~'~( X ) :

(~0,

~9+('p) ~ 9 ( x ) % "

(,(/)0,

(lI1 1~2)--1V)+~/)(~1~2)(/)0)'

(4.18)
- - ]q-oo,,(x) i-]e '~ = ~ sinhe 7~,,, "g~,,,(9)I:.

T h e m a i n interest is w h e n o-->0. F o r m ~ 0 all t e r m s t e n d to zero. T h e

o n l y c o n t r i b n t i o n is from m = I) a n d is ~ sinh *yA-.olg~o(o)]~-~ 0. The zeroK~

p o i n t fluctuations of the s-wave p h o n o n s give a non-zero d e n s i t y at t h e v o r t e x

line. W e m a y define the expe(.tation value of the v e l o c i t y as
__

(4.19)

ih

,/~rj( ~p-

v o - - ,(x) 2 ,.\, o,

i ~'~/'- '\

"'\
,5 ~9 ~') % ) '

1 7~'

o ;9

T h e d e n s i t y is n o w non-zero at o = 0.

B u t the n u m e r a t o r is

]tH
]t ))1
i M
leo,),, ~" "-~"o',,(:, ) " - ~ sinh2 7~,,~ - -()' g o , , ( 9 ) ! ~ "
[)

(4.20)

I t tends to zero as o ~ 0, since the m = 0 t e r m contains a f a c t o r lira, and

is t h u s a b s e n t f r o m the sunl. H e n c e , the e x p e c t a t i o n value of the v e l o c i t y is
finite, a n d is in fact zero at 9 = 0 .
For,u=1
i (~001 2

(4.21)

, !
i ,(,I01(/)) ! 2

~ ~-+o ~ ('2 = 0)
!

since gol(O) goes as ~)~(~ ( 2 M E / ] P - ) o ) ,

(4.22)

G -~

where : is a n o r m a l i z a t i o n factor, we h a v e

i('""~2

(23IEI

,.(c,-- iii/' \
Thus the vortieity w =

'

1(I/~2)(~/~o)(o~',,
) has the limiting vMue

T h e v o r t i e i t y has a finite value in the (.ore.

I t is clear t h a t these results d e p e n d on the general f o r m of the v o r t e x
w a v e - f u n c t i o n l l l l I f l ) o , a n d are i n d e p e n d e n t of the precise values of IC0o,I2
a n d y ~ , . As described in ref. (,b), ill a h i g h e r a p p r o x i m a t i o n these p a r a m e t e r s
are shifted f r o m the values given b y the t h e o r y t h a t considers only d f o + d f l + d # 2 .
One m u s t consider the modifications i n d u c e d w h e n the creation a n d annihila t i o n o p e r a t o r s are r e o r d e r e d after the n o r m a l m o d e t r a n s f o r m a t i o n .
This

474

z . e . (~ROSS

includes a diagonal contribution to the ground state energy from W2e%f4W~1.

The best ground state for the chosen t y p e of a p p r o x i m a t e state vector is obtained variationally. The parameters coos, ~0, and E, are determined b y minimizing the ground state energy expectation value with respect to c~os, and
imposing the two Lagrange multiplier conditions. Since we are not working
with a plane wave basis, the reordering of W2~3W~ 1 leads to a modified selfconsistent potential because terms linear in the creation and annihilation operators appear. W~3/~4W:~ also contains terms t h a t lead to a modified normal
mode problem, i.e. a redetermination of the y ~ , . Following these lines we
m a y obtain an improved value for the energy of a v o r t e x state without phonons.
One main effect is the replacement of the total density N/~2 b y the superfluid
density Icoos[2/Y2 in the estimates. F u r t h e r improvements must consider a more
general normal mode transformation to take into account the radial m o d e
coupling, and also off diagonal contributions of ]t~(Jtf3~-$ff4)W~ ~. I t would
be worthwhile to undertake a systematic calculation to give u clear developm e n t of all quantities in the strength of the interparticle potential. A trustw o r t h y calculation for the actual case of liquid helium would be difficult. I t
is likely t h a t the zero-point oscillation-spread of the core density is comparable to the self-consistent field contribution. I t is well known t h a t the Bogolj u b o v normal mode transformation is too restricted for studying the p h o n o n
spectrum in higher approximations. The off diagonal elements of W~(.~ff~-+-~4)W; ~
must be considered to avoid spurious energy gaps.
I t is, however, not our concern here to study these refinements. F u r t h e r
development might be preferably undertaken b y other methods (7-1o). The
m~in point, however, already appears in the simpler t r e a t m e n t presented here.
I t is the specification of a special, highly occupied, ~ v o r t e x ~ single-particle
state (Voo,(X). F o r weakly repelling bosons, where the self-consistent field contribution to the structure of the vortex dominates q u a n t u m fluctuation effects,
the picture is particularly clear.
The wave function representing an elementary v o r t e x state has an expectation value ATh# for the angular m o m e n t u m . The projected state with
the exact N~/~, is of course orthogonal to the ground state without a vortex.
I n our approximation the orthogonality occurs as 2-->c~, essentially because the inner product

<e.,(,./.'(x)'.--....l'o/.X,
lk"(.),'(.)".--....]Oo)--o.,--',
(7)
(s)
(9)
(~0)

K.
S.
R.
.

A. BRU]ECKNERand K. ~A~'ADA: Phys. Rev., 106, 1117 (1957).

T. BELYA~,V: Soviet Physics J E T P , 7, 289 (1958).
AB]~: Prog. Theor. Phys., 19, l, 57, 407, 699, 713 (1958).
5[. HUGI~NHOLTZand D. PIN~s: Phys. Rev., li6, 489 (1959).

STRUCTI~I~E OF A Q V A N T I Z E D V(-)IYI']~X IN BOSON SYSTE~IS

475

Cf. the similar discussion of the periodic ground states in ref. (4b). This argum e n t holds when we consider corresponding states with a small n u m b e r of
excitations. B u t it breaks down when there are of the order of N excitations,
for e x a m p l e at a finite t e m p e r a t u r e near the ),-point. F u r t h e r m o r e , the t e r m s
W ~ s W ~ ~ a n d W25f4W~ ~ create and annihilate only a small n u m b e r of particles in a single act. Thus an e l e m e n t a r y v o r t e x can only decay b y a v e r y
high order process in p e r t u r b a t i o n theory, i.e. it has an essentially macroscopic
lifetime. W e do not t r y to estimate this lifetime here. W i t h a large n u m b e r
of excitations the v o r t e x state becomes seriously depleted and the core grows
in size ~nd fluctuates. There are then rapid transitions to ~ circulation-free
state with p r o d u c t i o n of phonons. The problem appears difficult to discuss
precisely f r o m the present point of view. We h a v e an overcompleteness of
states characteristic of self-consistent field theories. E a c h ]"(x) and the associated excitation s p e c t r u m p r e s u m a b l y spans the same space of state vectors.
The a p p r o x i m a t e wave functions can then be accurate only when are there is a
small n u m b e r of excitations.

5. - F u r t h e r d i s c u s s i o n of the s e m i c l a s s i e a l theory.

The equation of motion for the classical field ~t,(x, t) m a y be rewritten in

h y d r o d y n a m i c form. P u t t i n g ~0= E e x p [ i S / ? @
where R and S are real, one
finds

( )

(5.1.)

(5.2)

~ (R -~) = -- div R ~ ~VS

PS
(VS) 2
-7_'t
2M

h~ V-'R
~- t V ( x -- y ) R ~ ( y ) d 3 y .
2M R
'
/

W e introduce the velocity field v = V S / M

second equation. Then
(5.3)

~-+(v'V)v

and t a k e the gradient of the

:-VH=0,

H is given b y the functional

(5.4)

H --

1~2 V2R
+ ) V ( x -- y ) R 2 ( y ) d 3 y
2M R

consisting of a <~q u a n t u m ,> contribution and a contribution arising f r o m particle interactions. I t has the dimensions of energy. I n the usual h y d r o d y n a m ics one assumes the pressure p is a function of the density and H = f d p / n .
B u t the present h y d r o d y n a m i c s is quite different. I t is useful to introduce

476

E.P. ~m(,ss

the density ~ = R ~ and to write (summation (.onvention)

(5.6)

~',l
?t

; (~tt',) : o ,

7,rk

;
~
717
31 ~ (~r,) + Jl =-- (~l', r,) -- ~

(5.7)

C.I'~.

( d',

n(OH/Ox~) can be expressed as (")

(5.8)

, (.( 1 " k -

~l =
-J
( El,

V(.;'-- '~t),~(~/)d:~/
,

~,1,;.

with a stress tensor

(5.9)

a,~, -- 2UII '~ ~'~-):~).,', "

(,1'~

~ (lI~ V:F 1
(J'l

This differs from ordinary h y d r o d y n a m i c s in t h a t the stress depends on derivatives of the density, rather than velocity.
The elementary line vortex has tile p r o p e l t y that V ~ , ~ - 0 and V S . V R = 0,
a n d t h a t R = 0 on the vortex line. The q u a n t u m pressure - - (li2/2M)(V'2R/R) ---->
-->-- oo as p --->0 and cancels (V,u):/2M which --> ~ oe, leaving a finite quantity. I t is clear since the vortex core is small in extent, that we can generalize
the argument, and find approximate solutions representino' steady patterns of
vortices separated by distances greater than the core diameter. One way is
to look first for solutions of V-S 0, e.g. ring vortices, sets of line vortices, etc. Then one finds the appropriate behaviour of R near the lines of
singularity. This brings into play the type of classical h y d r o d y n a m i c argument
already used in interpreting experimental properties of superfluid helium. The
main role of the q u a n t u m meehani(.s, at least for weakly interacting bosons,
is to provide a foundation for this procedure, and to ensure t h a t there is a
definite t h e o r y of the structure of the vortex (.ore. This type of consideration
is foreign to classical (even compressible) hydrodymmfies. The structure depends on the q u a n t u m pressure term, as is evident from the fact t h a t the
characteristic size depends on a De Broglie wavelen~'th. I n addition, the s t u d y
of the q u a n t u m state vectors associated with a flow pattern should show t h a t
d e c a y is possible only in a macroscopic time.
Formally, each solution of the h y d r o d y n a m i c equations defines a basis
function which is occupied by a finite fraction of the particles. Such a state
is not as symmetrical as the elementary cylindrical vortex and would probably not be considered from the point of view of ordinary q u a n t u m mechanics.
The complete set of functions orthogonal to the basis function permits an
(11) T. TAKABAYASI:Prog.

Theor. Phys., 8, 143 (1952); 9, 1~7 (1953).

5TII['I'TI

H];

~)I'

QIkNTIZI';I)

V(~I'TEX

IN

BI)Sq)N

SYSTEMS

4:'~7

a n a l y s i s of t h e s m a l l o s c i l l a t i o n s p e ( , t r u m c o m p a r a b l e to t h a t of S e c t i o n s 3
a n d 4.
P h e n o m e n o l o g i e a l single fluid h y d r o d y n a m i c e q u a t i o n s h a v e b e e n u s e d to
s t u d y p r o c e s s e s such as s c a t t e r i n g of p h o n o n s a n d p r o t o n s f r o m v o r t i c e s (~").
T h e s e t h e o r i e s a s s u m e a p r e s s u r e d e n s i t y r e l a t i o n such t h a t (dp/d~) agrees
w i t h t h e o b s e r v e d first s o u n d v e l o c i t y . I n c o n t r a s t t h e p r e s e n t t h e o r y cont a i n s t h e q u a n t u m p r e s s u r e t e r m a n d is d i r e c t l y r e l a t e d to b a s i c q u a n t u m
m e c h a n i c s . H o w e v e r , t h e d e f e c t of o u r p r o c e d u r e is t h a t o n l y w e a k l y i n t e r a c t i n g
p a r t i c l e s c a n b e t.reated in a clear m a n n e r . I t s h o u l d be possible, in t h e s p i r i t
of a p s e u d o p o t e n t i a l m e t h o d , of B r u e c k n e r ' s i d e a s , or of L a n d a u ' s t h e o r y of
F e r m i l i q u i d t.o j u s t i f y r e p l a c i n g t h e i n t e r a c t i o n p o t e n t i a l ab i n i t i o to t r e a t
s t r o n g i n t e r a c t i o n s . T h e n t h e s e m i e l a s s i e a l t h e o r y itself w o u l d b e c o m e u s e f u l
f o r q u a n t i t a t i v e a p p l i c a t i o n s to s u p e r f l u i d h e l i u m .

T h e a u t h o r is i n d e b t e d to P r o f e s s o r I)AVID B o l t s i for m a n y v a l u a b l e discussions. H e also wishes to e x p r e s s a p p r e c i a t i o n for t h e h o s p i t a l i t y of t h e

U n i v e r s i t y of B r i s t o l a n d C E R N , a n d for f i n a n c i a l s u p p o r t f r o m t h e N a t i o n a l
S c i e n c e F o u n d a t i o n , a n d t h e office of Scientific R e s e a r c h , U.S. A i r F o r c e .

(12) L. i ). PITAEVSKI: Not'iet .Physic,s' J E T t +, 8, 888 (195s).

RIASSUNT0

(')

Sviluppiamo una teoria delle eccitazioni dei vortici lineari elementari, per un
sistema di bosoni debolmente repulsivi. Lo stato di vortice b, caratterizzato dalla presenza d i u n a frazione finita di particeiie nello stato di particella singola con Inomento
angolare intero. La dipendenza radiale dello stato densamente occupato segue da una
equazione di campo autocongruente. La funzione radiale e la densit' di particelie
associata sono essenzialmente costanti dovunque tranne che nell'interno di un nocciolo, dove si annullano. La dimensione del nocciolo ~ uguale alla lunghezza d'onda
di de Broglie associata con l'energia media di interazione per particella. I1 valore previsto
per la velocit,~ ha la dipendenza radiale del vortice claasico. In questa approssimazione
di Hartree la vorticit~ ~ nulia dovunque tranne the sulla linea di vortice. Quando si
raffina la descrizione dello stato sino ad iacimlere le (~scillazi<mi nel punto zero del
campo fononico, la vorticit'~ si estende a t u t l o nocciol,). Questi risultati confermano nei
punti essenziali gli argomenti intuitivi di ~)nsager e Fevnman. I fononi etm si muovono
normalmente alia linea di vortice hanno eccitazioni congruenti e~)n quantit'~ di moto
uguale e contraria rispetto al substrato di partieelle in movimento ehe eostituisce il
vortice. I1 movimento del vortiee risolve ]a degenerazione dei fononi di Bogoljubov
l'ispetto al numero quantico azimutale.
(*) Trox~uzio~e a c u r a della lCedazio.~.
31

- Il

Nuooo

Cimento.