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Register a new userClassical Transitions in Superfluid Helium 3
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We argue that classical transitions can be the key to explaining the long standing puzzle of the fast A-B phase transition observed in superfluid Helium 3 while standard theory expects it to be unobservably slow. Collisions between domain walls are shown to be capable of reaching phases inaccessible through homogenous nucleation on the measured timescales. We demonstrate qualitative agreements with prior observations and provide a definite, distinctive prediction that could be verified through future experiments or, perhaps, a specific analysis of existing data.
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The $A$ phase and the $B$ phase of superfluid He-3 are well studied, both theoretically and experimentally. The decay time scale of the $A$ phase to the $B$ phase of a typical supercooled superfluid $^3$He-A sample is calculated to be $10^{20,000}$ years or longer, yet the actual first-order phase transition of supercooled $A$ phase happens very rapidly (in seconds to minutes) in the laboratory. We propose that this very fast phase transition puzzle can be explained by the resonant tunneling effect in field theory, which generically happens since the degeneracies of both the $A$ and the $B$ phases are lifted by many small interaction effects. This explanation predicts the existence of peaks in the $A to B$ transition rate for certain values of the temperature, pressure, and magnetic field. Away from these peaks, the transition simply will not happen.
The irrotational nature of superfluid helium was discovered through its decoupling from the container under rotation. Similarly, the resonant period drop of a torsional oscillator (TO) containing solid helium was first interpreted as the decoupling of solid from the TO and appearance of supersolid. However, the resonant period can be changed by mechanisms other than supersolid, such as the elastic stiffening of solid helium that is widely accepted as the reason for the TO response. To demonstrate the irrotational nature more directly, the previous experiments superimposed the dc rotation onto the TO and revealed strong suppression on the TO response without affecting the shear modulus. This result is inconsistent with the simple temperature-dependent elasticity model and supports the supersolid scenario. Here, we re-examine the rotational effect on solid helium with a two-frequency rigid TO to clarify the conflicting observations. Surprisingly, most of the result of previous rotation experiments were not reproduced. Instead, we found a very interesting superfluid-like irrotational response that cannot be explained by elastic models.
We report the results of high frequency acoustic shear impedance measurement on superfluid helium-3 confined in 98% porosity silica aerogel. Using 8.69 MHz continuous wave excitation, we measured the acoustic shear impedance as a function of temperature for the sample pressure of 28.4 and 33.5 bar. We observed the A-B transition on warming in zero magnetic field. Our observations show that the A and B phases in aerogel coexist in a temperature range of about 100 micro-Kelvin in width. We propose that the difference in the relative stability of the A and B phases, arising from anisotropic scattering, can account for our observations.
An equilibrium multielectron bubble in liquid helium is a fascinating object with a spherical two-dimensional electron gas on its surface. We describe two ways of creating them. MEBs have been observed in the dome of a cylindrical cell with an unexpectedly short lifetime; we show analytically why these MEBs can discharge by tunneling. Using a novel method, MEBs have been extracted from a vapor sheath around a hot filament in superfluid helium by applying electric fields up to 15 kV/cm, and photographed with high-speed video. Charges as high as 1.6x10-9 C (~1010 electrons) have been measured. The latter method provides a means of capture in an electromagnetic trap to allow the study of the extensive exciting properties of these elusive objects.
Tungsten filaments used as sources of electrons in a low temperature liquid or gaseous helium environment have remarkable properties of operating at thousands of degrees Kelvin in surroundings at temperatures of order 1 K. We provide an explanation of this performance in terms of important changes in the thermal transport mechanisms. The behavior can be cast as a first-order phase transition.
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