No Arabic abstract
We present results of a theoretical study of 4He films adsorbed on graphite, based on the continuous space worm algorithm. In the first layer, we find a domain-wall phase and a (7/16) registered structure between the commensurate (1/3) and the incommensurate solid phases. For the second layer, we find only superfluid and incommensurate solid phases. The commensurate phase found in previous simulation work is only observed if first layer particles are kept fixed; it disappears upon explicitly including their zero-point fluctuations. No evidence of any supersolid phase is found.
A lattice model of 3He - 4He mixtures which takes into account the continuous rotational symmetry O(2) of the superfluid degrees of freedom of 4He is studied in the molecular-field approximation and by Monte Carlo simulations in three dimensions. In contrast to its two-dimensional version, for reasonable values of the interaction parameters the resulting phase diagram resembles that observed experimentally for 3He - 4He mixtures, for which phase separation occurs as a consequence of the superfluid transition. The corresponding continuum Ginzburg-Landau model with two order parameters describing 3He- 4He mixtures near tricriticality is derived from the considered lattice model. All coupling constants appearing in the continuum model are explicitly expressed in terms of the mean concentration of 4He, the temperature, and the microscopic interaction parameters characterizing the lattice system.
We have studied by Quantum Monte Carlo simulations the low temperature phase diagram of a mixture of isotopic, hard core bosons, described by the t-Jz-Jperp model, with Jperp=a Jz. Coexistence of superfluid hole-rich and insulating, antiferromagnetically ordered hole-free phases is observed at sufficiently low hole density, for any a < 1. A two-component checkerboard supersolid phase is not observed. The experimental relevance and possible broader implications of these findings are discussed.
We comment and discuss the findings and conclusions of a recent theoretical study of the diffraction of He atoms from a monolayer of Xe atoms adsorbed on the graphite (0001) surface [Khokonov et al., Surf. Sci. 496(2002)L13]. By revisiting the problem we demonstrate that all main conclusions of Khokonov et al. that pertain to the studied system are at variance with the available experimental and theoretical evidence and the results of multiple scattering calculations presented in this comment.
The superfluid transition in liquid 4He filled in Gelsil glass observed in recent experiments is discussed in the framework of quantum critical phenomena. We show that quantum fluctuations of phase are indeed important at the experimentally studied temperature range owing to the small pore size of Gelsil, in contrast to 4He filled in previously studied porous media such as Vycor glass. As a consequence of an effective particle-hole symmetry, the quantum critical phenomena of the system are described by the 4D XY universality class, except at very low temperatures. The simple scaling agrees with the experimental data remarkably well.
High-resolution neutron resonance spin-echo measurements of superfluid 4He show that the roton energy does not have the same temperature dependence as the inverse lifetime. Diagrammatic analysis attributes this to the interaction of rotons with thermally excited phonons via both four- and three-particle processes, the latter being allowed by the broken gauge symmetry of the Bose condensate. The distinct temperature dependence of the roton energy at low temperatures suggests that the net roton-phonon interaction is repulsive.