Fracton phases of matter exhibit local excitations with restricted mobility. This paper explores superfluid vortices as a readily available experimental realization of fracton physics. The authors demonstrate that vortex dynamics conserve total dipole and quadrupole moments of vorticity, linking them to a traceless scalar charge theory. In the large vortex number limit, emergent vortex hydrodynamics also conserves these moments. Furthermore, the behavior of vortices on curved surfaces mirrors that of fractons, suggesting a path towards experimental investigations of fracton physics in curved space, a concept also applicable to charged particles in strong magnetic fields.

Darshil Doshi, Andrey Gromov