RELATION BETWEEN THE JOSEPHSON FREQUENCY AND THE ARRHENIUS RATE FOR THE NUCLEATION OF 2-PI PHASE SLIPS IN SUPERFLUID HE-4

The creation rate of phase slip vortices is related to an energy barri er through an Arrhenius law. By computing a proportionality factor tha t relates the Josephson frequency to the Arrhenius rate one can then d educe the form of the vortex nucleation energy barrier from the observ ed dependence of critical velocity on pressure drive. The results of a numerical simulation is presented which evaluates this factor over a large parameter space.