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Register a new userFreezing of He-4 and its liquid-solid interface from Density Functional Theory
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Added by
Francesco Ancilotto
Publication date
2005
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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We show that, at high densities, fully variational solutions of solid-like type can be obtained from a density functional formalism originally designed for liquid 4He. Motivated by this finding, we propose an extension of the method that accurately describes the solid phase and the freezing transition of liquid 4He at zero temperature. The density profile of the interface between liquid and the (0001) surface of the 4He crystal is also investigated, and its surface energy evaluated. The interfacial tension is found to be in semiquantitative agreement with experiments and with other microscopic calculations. This opens the possibility to use unbiased DF methods to study highly non-homogeneous systems, like 4He interacting with strongly attractive impurities/substrates, or the nucleation of the solid phase in the metastable liquid.
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Formation of vortex rings around moving spherical objects in superfluid He-4 at 0 K is modeled by time-dependent density functional theory. The simulations provide detailed information of the microscopic events that lead to vortex ring emission through characteristic observables such as liquid current circulation, drag force, and hydrodynamic mass. A series of simulations were performed to determine velocity thresholds for the onset of dissipation as a function of the sphere radius up to 1.8 nm and at external pressures of zero and 1 bar. The threshold was observed to decrease with the sphere radius and increase with pressure thus showing that the onset of dissipation does not involve roton emission events (Landau critical velocity), but rather vortex emission (Feynman critical velocity), which is also confirmed by the observed periodic response of the hydrodynamic observables as well as visualization of the liquid current circulation. An empirical model, which considers the ratio between the boundary layer kinetic and vortex ring formation energies, is presented for extrapolating the current results to larger length scales. The calculated critical velocity value at zero pressure for a sphere that mimics an electron bubble is in good agreement with the previous experimental observations at low temperatures. The stability of the system against symmetry breaking was linked to its ability to excite quantized Kelvin waves around the vortex rings during the vortex shedding process. At high vortex ring emission rates, the downstream dynamics showed complex vortex ring fission and reconnection events that appear similar to those seen in previous Gross-Pitaevskii theory-based calculations, and which mark the onset of turbulent behavior.
A density functional theory is used to investigate the instability arising in superfluid $^4$He as it flows at velocity u just above the Landau critical velocity of rotons v_c. Confirming an early theoretical prediction by one of us [JETP Lett. 39, 511 (1984)], we find that a stationary periodic modulation of the density occurs, with amplitude proportional to (u-v_c)^{1/2} and wave vector equal to the roton wave vector. This density pattern is studied for supercritical flow both in bulk helium and in a channel of nanometer cross-section.
We compute the zero-temperature dynamical structure factor of one-dimensional liquid $^4$He by means of state-of-the-art Quantum Monte Carlo and analytic continuation techniques. By increasing the density, the dynamical structure factor reveals a transition from a highly compressible critical liquid to a quasi-solid regime. In the low-energy limit, the dynamical structure factor can be described by the quantum hydrodynamic Luttinger liquid theory, with a Luttinger parameter spanning all possible values by increasing the density. At higher energies, our approach provides quantitative results beyond the Luttinger liquid theory. In particular, as the density increases, the interplay between dimensionality and interaction makes the dynamical structure factor manifest a pseudo {it{particle-hole}} continuum typical of fermionic systems. At the low-energy boundary of such region and moderate densities, we find consistency, within statistical uncertainties, with predictions of a power-law structure by the recently-developed non-linear Luttinger liquid theory. In the quasi-solid regime we observe a novel behavior at intermediate momenta, which can be described by new analytical relations that we derive for the hard-rods model.
By the density functional theory for crystallization, it is shown that for vortex lines in an underlying layered structure a smectic phase with period m=2 can be stabilized by strong layer pinning. The freezing of vortex liquid is then two-step, a second-order liquid-smectic transition and a first-order smectic-lattice transition. DFT also indicates that a direct, first-order liquid-lattice transition preempts the smectic order with m>2 irrespectively of the pinning strength. Possible H-T phase diagrams are mapped out. Implications of the DFT results to the interlayer Josephson vortex system in high-Tc cuprates are given.
We report measurements of elastic moduli of hcp solid $^4$He down to 15 mK when the samples are rotated unidirectionally. Recent investigations have revealed that the elastic behavior of solid $^4$He is dominated by gliding of dislocations and pinning of them by $^3$He impurities, which move in the solid like Bloch waves (impuritons). Motivated by the recent controversy of torsional oscillator studies, we have preformed direct measurements of shear and Youngs moduli of annular solid $^4$He using pairs of quarter-circle shape piezoelectric transducers (PZTs) while the whole apparatus is rotated with angular velocity $Omega$ up to 4 rad/s. We have found that shear modulus $mu$ is suppressed by rotation below 80 mK, when shear strain applied by PZT exceeds a critical value, above which $mu$ decreases because the shear strain unbinds dislocations from $^3$He impurities. The rotation - induced decrement of $mu$ at $Omega = 4$ rad/s is about 14.7 (12.3) % of the total change of temperature dependent $mu$ for solid samples of pressure 3.6 (5.4) MPa. The decrements indicate that the probability of pinning of $^3$He on dislocation segment, $G$, decreases by several orders of magnitude. We propose that the motion of $^3$He impuritons under rotation becomes strongly anisotropic by the Coriolis force, resulting a decrease in $G$ for dislocation lines aligning parallel to the rotation axis.
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