A Glassy Contribution to the Heat Capacity of hcp 4He Solids

2009/12/31 by Jung-Jung Su, Matthias J. Graf, Alexander V. Balatsky · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #cond-mat.stat-mech

paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s10909-010-0163-x

published as Journal of Low Temperature Physics 159 (2010) 431 (10 pages) · 11 pages, 4 figures

arxiv created 2010/01/27 · openalex publication_date 2010/02/16 · arxiv updated 2011/04/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

We model the low-temperature specific heat of solid ⁴He in the hexagonal closed packed structure by invoking two-level tunneling states in addition to the usual phonon contribution of a Debye crystal for temperatures far below the Debye temperature, T < Θ_D/50. By introducing a cutoff energy in the two-level tunneling density of states, we can describe the excess specific heat observed in solid hcp ⁴He, as well as the low-temperature linear term in the specific heat. Agreement is found with recent measurements of the temperature behavior of both specific heat and pressure. These results suggest the presence of a very small fraction, at the parts-per-million (ppm) level, of two-level tunneling systems in solid ⁴He, irrespective of the existence of supersolidity.

Citations

• Anomalous low-temperature thermal properties of glasses and spin glasses

Cited by

• The Glassy Response of Double Torsion Oscillators in Solid 4He
• Mass flow through solid<mml:mrow/>4He induced by the fountain effect

Related

• Observation of a Glassy Phase in Solid 4He in the Supersolidity Region
• Thermal and structural properties of topological defects in solid Helium-4: Strain induced martensitic transformation from hcp to fc orthorhombic lattice
• Solid 4He and the Supersolid Phase: from Theoretical Speculation to the Discovery of a New State of Matter? –A Review of the Past and Present Status of Research–
• Elastic constants and supersolidity in solid hcp 4He
• The Limit of Mechanical Stability in Quantum Crystals: A Diffusion Monte Carlo Study of Solid 4He