Reconnections of Quantized Vortex Rings in Superfluid 4He at Very Low Temperatures

Collisions in a beam of unidirectional quantized vortex rings of nearly identical radii R in superfluid He-4 in the limit of zero temperature (0.05 K) were studied using time-of-flight spectroscopy. Reconnections between two primary rings result in secondary vortex loops of both smaller and larger radii. Discrete steps in the distribution of flight times, due to the limits on the earliest possible arrival times of secondary loops created after either one or two consecutive reconnections, are observed. The density of primary rings was found to be capped at the value 500 cm(-2) R-1 independent of the injected density. This is due to collisions between rings causing the piling up of many other vortex rings. Both observations are in quantitative agreement with our theory.