Summary: Quantum turbulence in an antisymmetric-tensor model of superfluids at zero temperature is an effect analogous to vacuum polarization in electrodynamics: it is due to a quantum-mechanical instability in the presence of a strong background field. In place of pair creation there is the spontaneous formation of expanding loops of vorticity. The phenomenon can be described by a linear theory of vortices interacting with a two-index antisymmetric-tensor potential, much like electrodynamics. The rate at which turbulence sets in is estimated for supersonic flow and flow around a wedge. It is argued that turbulence and renormalization of the string mass per unit length are closely related.