201. Liquid–solid helium interface: some conceptual questions
- Author
-
Anthony J. Leggett
- Subjects
Condensed matter physics ,Interface (Java) ,Chemistry ,Liquid phase ,chemistry.chemical_element ,Surfaces and Interfaces ,General Chemistry ,Liquid solid ,Condensed Matter Physics ,Surfaces, Coatings and Films ,Condensed Matter::Soft Condensed Matter ,Superfluidity ,Wave function ,Statics ,Superfluid helium-4 ,Helium - Abstract
I raise, and discuss qualitatively, some conceptual issues concerning the interface between the crystalline solid and superfluid liquid phases of 4He emphasizing, in particular, the fact that the ground-state wave functions of the two phases are prima facie qualitatively quite different, in that the superfluid liquid phase possesses off-diagonal long-range order (ODLRO), while the crystalline solid does not. The fact that the statics and dynamics of the interface do not appear to be particularly sensitive to the presence of ODLRO in the liquid is tentatively explained by the fact that because of a subtlety associated with the Bose statistics obeyed by the atoms, the solid and liquid wave functions are not locally very different.
- Published
- 2003
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