Vortex Thermometry for Turbulent Two-Dimensional Fluids

We introduce a new method of statistical analysis to characterize 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 we apply this vortex thermometry to characterize 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)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.113.165302, and we find previously unidentified vortex power-law distributions that emerge from the dynamics.