English

Non-universal Casimir Effect in Saturated Superfluid $^4$He Films at T$_\lambda$

Statistical Mechanics 2015-06-17 v3 Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics

Abstract

Measurements of Casimir effects in 4^4He films in the vicinity of the bulk superfluid transition temperature TλT_\lambda have been carried out, where changes in the film thickness and the superfluid density are both monitored as a function of temperature. The Kosterlitz-Thouless superfluid onset temperature in the film is found to occur just as the Casimir dip in the film thickness from critical fluctuations becomes evident. Additionally, a new film-thickening effect is observed precisely at TλT_\lambda when the temperature is swept extremely slowly. We propose that this is a non-universal Casimir effect arising from the viscous suppression of second sound modes in the film.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1309.0770,
  title  = {Non-universal Casimir Effect in Saturated Superfluid $^4$He Films at T$_\lambda$},
  author = {John B. S. Abraham and Gary A. Williams and Konstantin Penanen},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1309.0770},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

5 pages, 6 figures, corrected an equation, small change to fit value

R2 v1 2026-06-22T01:19:56.740Z