Some previously reported second-sound shock-wave experiments in rotating frames of reference are analyzed using the Schwarz localized-induction-approximation description of the motion of quantized vortices in superfluid helium. A linear-characteristic theory to describe the evolution of the wave is developed which incorporates the nonlinear and intrinsically nonsteady growth of helical perturbations on quantized vortex lines and their interaction with and degradation of the shock-induced counterflow velocity field. This analysis provides an explanation of the seemingly paradoxical experimental results, and numerical calculations based on the theory are in reasonable quantitative agreement with the experimental data.

• Received 20 June 1988

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.39.2165