2007/05/08 by Anna Maciołek, A. Maciolek, Andrea Gambassi +2 · 1 citation
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Casimir effect #Condensed matter physics #Critical exponent #Critical point (mathematics) #Geometry #Lambda #Logarithm #Mathematical analysis #Mathematics #Phase (matter) #Phase diagram #Phase transition #Physics #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #Quantum mechanics #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #Scaling #Superfluidity #Thermodynamics #Tricritical point #Universality (dynamical systems) #Wetting #Wetting transition #cond-mat.stat-mech #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreve.76.031124
published as Phys. Rev. E 76, 031124 (2007) · 32 pages, 12 figures
arxiv created 2007/05/08 · openalex publication_date 2007/09/19 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Recent experimental data for the complete wetting behavior of pure 4He and of 3He\text\ensuremath-4He mixtures exposed to solid substrates show that there is a change of the corresponding film thicknesses L upon approaching thermodynamically the \ensuremathλ transition and the tricritical end point, respectively, which can be attributed to critical Casimir forces fC. We calculate the scaling functions \ensuremathϑ of fC within models representing the corresponding universality classes. For the mixtures our analysis provides an understanding of the rich behavior of \ensuremathϑ deduced from the experimental data and predicts the crossover behavior between the tricritical point and the \ensuremathλ transition of pure 4He which are connected by a line of critical points. The formation of a ``soft-mode'' phase within the wetting films gives rise to a pronounced maximum of fC below the tricritical point as observed experimentally. Near the tricritical point we find logarithmic corrections \ensuremath∼L^\ensuremath-3(ln\phantom\rule0.2em0exL)1∕2 for the leading behavior of \ensuremathϑ dominating the contributions from the background dispersion forces.