English

The solid phase of He-4: A Monte Carlo simulation study

Other Condensed Matter 2023-07-27 v2

Abstract

The thermodynamics of solid (hcp) He-4 is studied theoretically by means of unbiased Monte Carlo simulations at finite temperature, in a wide range of density. This study complements and extends previous theoretical work, mainly by obtaining results at significantly lower temperatures (down to 60 mK) and for systems of greater size, by including in full the effect of quantum statistics, and by comparing estimates yielded by different pair potentials. All the main thermodynamic properties of the crystal, e.g., the kinetic energy per atom, are predicted to be essentially independent of temperature below 1 K. Quantum-mechanical exchanges are virtually non-existent in this system, even at the lowest temperature considered. However, effects of quantum statistics are detectable in the momentum distribution. Comparison with available measurements shows general agreement within the experimental uncertainties.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2306.13848,
  title  = {The solid phase of He-4: A Monte Carlo simulation study},
  author = {Massimo Boninsegni},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2306.13848},
  year   = {2023}
}

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Replaced with published version

R2 v1 2026-06-28T11:13:18.733Z