On the space-time curvature experienced by quasiparticle excitations in the Painleve-Gullstrand effective geometry

Abstract

We consider quasiparticle propagation in constant-speed-of-sound (iso-tachic) and almost incompressible (iso-pycnal) hydrodynamic flows, using the technical machinery of general relativity to investigate the ``effective space-time geometry'' that is probed by the quasiparticles. This effective geometry, described for the quasiparticles of condensed matter systems by the Painleve-Gullstrand metric, generally exhibits curvature (in the sense of Riemann), and many features of quasiparticle propagation can be re-phrased in terms of null geodesics, Killing vectors, and Jacobi fields. As particular examples of hydrodynamic flow we consider shear flow, a constant-circulation vortex, flow past an impenetrable cylinder, and rigid rotation.

9 RevTex4 pages, 1 figure, minor modifications, to appear in Annals of Physics (N.Y.)