Vortex Thermometry for Turbulent Two-Dimensional Fluids

Abstract: We introduce a new method of statistical analysis to characterise the dynamics of turbulent fluids in two dimensions. We establish that, in equilibrium, the vortex distributions can be uniquely connected to the temperature of the vortex gas, and apply this vortex thermometry to characterise simulations of decaying superfluid turbulence. We confirm the hypothesis of vortex evaporative heating leading to Onsager vortices proposed in Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 165302 (2014), and find previously unidentified vortex power-law distributions that emerge from the dynamics.