Vectorizing Quantum Turbulence Vortex-Core Lines for Real-Time Visualization

IEEE Trans Vis Comput Graph. 2021 Sep;27(9):3794-3807. doi: 10.1109/TVCG.2020.2981460. Epub 2021 Jul 29.

Abstract

Vectorizing vortex-core lines is crucial for high-quality visualization and analysis of turbulence. While several techniques exist in the literature, they can only be applied to classical fluids. As quantum fluids with turbulence are gaining attention in physics, extracting and visualizing vortex-core lines for quantum fluids is increasingly desirable. In this article, we develop an efficient vortex-core line vectorization method for quantum fluids enabling real-time visualization of high-resolution quantum turbulence structure. From a dataset obtained through simulation, our technique first identifies vortex nodes based on the circulation field. To vectorize the vortex-core lines interpolating these vortex nodes, we propose a novel graph-based data structure, with iterative graph reduction and density-guided local optimization, to locate sub-grid-scale vortex-core line samples more precisely, which are then vectorized by continuous curves. This vortex-core representation naturally captures complex topology, such as branching during reconnection. Our vectorization approach reduces memory consumption by orders of magnitude, enabling real-time visualization performance. Different types of interactive visualizations are demonstrated to show the effectiveness of our technique, which could help further research on quantum turbulence.