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Path Integral Quantum Monte Carlo Study Of Coupling And Proximity Effects In Superfluid Helium-4, Max Graves
Path Integral Quantum Monte Carlo Study Of Coupling And Proximity Effects In Superfluid Helium-4, Max Graves
Graduate College Dissertations and Theses
When bulk helium-4 is cooled below T = 2.18 K, it undergoes a phase transition to a superfluid, characterized by a complex wave function with a macroscopic phase and exhibits inviscid, quantized flow. The macroscopic phase coherence can be probed in a container filled with helium-4, by reducing one or more of its dimensions until they are smaller than the coherence length, the spatial distance over which order propagates. As this dimensional reduction occurs, enhanced thermal and quantum fluctuations push the transition to the superfluid state to lower temperatures. However, this trend can be countered via the proximity effect, where …