English

On the Supersolid State of Matter

Statistical Mechanics 2009-11-10 v2 Superconductivity

Abstract

We prove that the necessary condition for a solid to be also a superfluid is to have zero-point vacancies, or interstitial atoms, or both, as an integral part of the ground state. As a consequence, superfluidity is not possible in commensurate solids which break continuous translation symmetry. We discuss recent experiment by Kim and Chan [Nature, {\bf 427}, 225 (2004)] in the context of this theorem, question its bulk supersolid interpretation, and offer an alternative explanation in terms of superfluid helium interfaces.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0409472,
  title  = {On the Supersolid State of Matter},
  author = {Nikolay Prokof'ev and Boris Svistunov},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0409472},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

4 figures, 4 pages