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    Energy spectra of vortex distributions in two-dimensional quantum turbulence

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    We theoretically explore key concepts of two-dimensional turbulence in a homogeneous compressible superfluid described by a dissipative two-dimensional Gross-Pitaeveskii equation. Such a fluid supports quantized vortices that have a size characterized by the healing length ξ\xi. We show that for the divergence-free portion of the superfluid velocity field, the kinetic energy spectrum over wavenumber kk may be decomposed into an ultraviolet regime (kξ1k\gg \xi^{-1}) having a universal k3k^{-3} scaling arising from the vortex core structure, and an infrared regime (kξ1k\ll\xi^{-1}) with a spectrum that arises purely from the configuration of the vortices. The Novikov power-law distribution of intervortex distances with exponent -1/3 for vortices of the same sign of circulation leads to an infrared kinetic energy spectrum with a Kolmogorov k5/3k^{-5/3} power law, consistent with the existence of an inertial range. The presence of these k3k^{-3} and k5/3k^{-5/3} power laws, together with the constraint of continuity at the smallest configurational scale kξ1k\approx\xi^{-1}, allows us to derive a new analytical expression for the Kolmogorov constant that we test against a numerical simulation of a forced homogeneous compressible two-dimensional superfluid. The numerical simulation corroborates our analysis of the spectral features of the kinetic energy distribution, once we introduce the concept of a {\em clustered fraction} consisting of the fraction of vortices that have the same sign of circulation as their nearest neighboring vortices. Our analysis presents a new approach to understanding two-dimensional quantum turbulence and interpreting similarities and differences with classical two-dimensional turbulence, and suggests new methods to characterize vortex turbulence in two-dimensional quantum fluids via vortex position and circulation measurements.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figure
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