Date of Award

Summer 8-15-2016

Author's School

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Author's Department

Physics

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Degree Type

Dissertation

Abstract

This dissertation will elucidate specific features of superfluid behavior in dense quark matter. It will start with issues regarding spontaneous decay of superfluid vortices in dense quark matter. This will be followed by topics that explain superfluid phenomena from field theoretical viewpoint.In particular the first part of the dissertation will talk about superfluid vortices in the color-flavor-locked (CFL) phase of dense quark matter which are known to be energetically disfavored as compared to well-separated triplets of "semi-superfluid" color flux tubes. In this talk we will provide results which will identify regions in parameter space where the superfluid vortex spontaneously decays. We will also discuss the nature of the mode that is responsible for the decay of a superfluid vortex in dense quark matter. We will conclude by mentioning the implications of our results to neutron stars. In the field theoretic formulation of a zero-temperature superfluid one connects the superfluid four-velocity which is a macroscopic observable with a microscopic field variable namely the gradient of the phase of a Bose-Condensed scalar field. On the other hand, a superfluid at nonzero temperatures is usually described in terms of a two-fluid model: the superfluid and the normal fluid. In the later part of the dissertation we offer a deeper understanding of the two-fluid model by deriving it from an underlying microscopic field theory. In particular, we shall obtain the macroscopic properties of a uniform, dissipationless superfluid at low temperatures and weak coupling within the framework of a φ 4 model. Though our study is very general, it may also be viewed as a step towards understanding the superfluid properties of various phases of dense nuclear and quark matter in the interior of compact star.

Language

English (en)

Chair and Committee

Mark G. Alford

Committee Members

Willem H. Dickhoff, Reanato Feres, Zohar Nussinov, Michael C. Ogilvie

Comments

Permanent URL: https://doi.org/doi:10.7936/K78P5XWB

Available for download on Saturday, August 15, 2116

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