Vortex Pinning in Superfluid Helium

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Abstract
A formalism for determining the behavior of vortex filaments in the presence of pinning sites is presented. As an initial application, the properties of a single quantized vortex terminating on a geometrically simple pinning site and subject to pure superflow are investigated. It is found that there exists a critical velocity above which the vortex decouples from the pinning site by a nonlinear, discontinuous process arising from its interaction with the nearby boundaries. No evidence of a vortex-mill mechanism is observed.