Explosion of electron bubbles attached to quantized vortices in liquid He-4

Electron bubbles in superfluid He-4 have been recently observed in low-temperature cavitation measurements under experimental conditions where quantized vortices are also present in the liquid, and which might be attached to the bubbles. We have calculated, within density functional theory, the structure and energetics of electron bubbles pinned to linear vortices in liquid He-4 at low temperature, and the pressure at which such structures become mechanically unstable. Our results are in semiquantitative agreement with the experiments. We discuss dynamical effects not included in the theoretical model used in the present calculations, and which could explain some discrepancies between our results and the experimental data. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.