Nucleation of vortices by rapid thermal quench

Abstract

We show that vortex nucleation in superfluid $^3$He by rapid thermal quench in the presence of superflow is dominated by a transverse instability of the moving normal-superfluid interface. Exact expressions for the instability threshold as a function of supercurrent density and the front velocity are found. The results are verified by numerical solution of the Ginzburg-Landau equation.Comment: 4 Pages, 4 Figure, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let