Related papers: What makes a crystal supersolid ?
The possibility of a supersolid state of matter, i.e., a crystalline solid exhibiting superfluid properties, first appeared in theoretical studies about forty years ago. After a long period of little interest due to the lack of experimental…
The supersolid state of matter, exhibiting non-dissipative flow in solids, has been elusive for thirty five years. The recent discovery of a non-classical moment of inertia in solid 4He by Kim and Chan provided the first experimental…
More than half a century ago Penrose asked: are the superfluid and solid state of matter mutually exclusive or do there exist "supersolid" materials where the atoms form a regular lattice and simultaneously flow without friction? Recent…
The ongoing experimental and theoretical effort aimed at understanding non-classical rotational inertia in solid helium, has sparked renewed interest in the supersolid phase of matter, its microscopic origin and character, and its…
Nearly a decade ago the old controversy about possible superfluid flow in the ground state of solid He4 was revived by the apparent experimental observation of such superflow. Although the experimentalists have recently retracted, very…
In recent years, experimental data were published which point to the possibility of the existence of superfluidity in solid helium. To investigate this phenomenon theoretically we employ a hierarchy of equations for reduced density matrices…
Supersolid is a mysterious and puzzling state of matter whose possible existence has stirred a vigorous debate among physicists for over 60 years. Its elusive nature stems from the coexistence of two seemingly contradicting properties,…
We revisited the phase diagram of the second layer of 4He on top of graphite using quantum Monte Carlo methods. Our aim was to explore the existence of the novel phases suggested recently in experimental works, and determine their…
A supersolid is a counter-intuitive state of matter that combines the frictionless flow of a superfluid with the crystal-like periodic density modulation of a solid. Since the first prediction in the 1950s, experimental efforts to realize…
Can a gas behave like a crystal? Supersolidity is an intriguing and challenging state of matter which combines key features of superfluids and crystals. Predicted a long time ago, its experimental realization has been recently achieved in…
The existence of a paradoxical supersolid phase of matter, possessing the apparently incompatible properties of crystalline order and superfluidity, was predicted 50 years ago. Solid helium was the natural candidate, but there supersolidity…
Evidence for a new type of superfluid phase in second-layer $^4$He on graphite has been obtained from simultaneous measurements of torsional-oscillator response and heat-capacity on exactly the same sample down to 30 mK, which resolve…
Although solid helium-4 (4He) may be a supersolid it also exhibits many phenomena unexpected in that context. We studied relaxation dynamics in the resonance frequency f(T) and dissipation D(T) of a torsional oscillator containing solid…
We report torsional oscillator supersolid studies of highly disordered samples of solid $^4$He. In an attempt to approach the amorphous or glassy state of the solid, we prepare our samples by rapid freezing from the normal phase of liquid…
The motion of helium crystals has been experimentally studied when the crystals fall in the superfluid liquid owing to gravity at temperatures above the roughening transitions where the whole crystal surface is in the atomically rough…
Supersolidity -- a quantum-mechanical phenomenon characterized by the presence of both superfluidity and crystalline order -- was initially envisioned in the context of bulk solid helium, as a possible answer to the question of whether a…
A torsional oscillator study of solid para-hydrogen has been carried out down to 20 mK in search for evidence of superfluidity. This work was inspired by the observation of the supersolid phase in solid He-4. We found evidence of a possible…
The concept of a supersolid state is paradoxical. It combines the crystallization of a many-body system with dissipationless flow of the atoms it is built of. This quantum phase requires the breaking of two continuous symmetries, the phase…
A supersolid is a fascinating phase of matter, combining the global phase coherence of a superfluid with hallmarks of solids, e.g. a spontaneous breaking of the translational symmetry. Recently, states with such counter-intuitive properties…
Solid He-4 is viewed as a nearly perfect Debye solid. Yet, recent calorimetry measurements by the PSU group (J. Low Temp. Phys. 138, 853 (2005) and Nature 449, 1025 (2007)) indicate that at low temperatures the specific heat has both cubic…