Phonons and specific heat of linear dense phases of atoms physisorbed in the grooves of carbon nanotube bundles

The vibrational properties (phonons) of a one-dimensional periodic phase of atoms physisorbed in the external groove of the carbon nanotube bundle are studied. Analytical expressions for the phonon dispersion relations are derived. The derived expressions are applied to Xe, Kr and Ar adsorbates. The specific heat pertaining to dense phases of these adsorbates is calculated.Comment: 4 PS figure

Uptake of gases in bundles of carbon nanotubes

Model calculations are presented which predict whether or not an arbitrary gas experiences significant absorption within carbon nanotubes and/or bundles of nanotubes. The potentials used in these calculations assume a conventional form, based on a sum of two-body interactions with individual carbon atoms; the latter employ energy and distance parameters which are derived from empirical combining rules. The results confirm intuitive expectation that small atoms and molecules are absorbed within both the interstitial channels and the tubes, while large atoms and molecules are absorbed almost exclusively within the tubes.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figures, submitted to PRB Newer version (8MAR2K). There was an error in the old one (23JAN2K). Please download thi

Systematic model behavior of adsorption on flat surfaces

A low density film on a flat surface is described by an expansion involving the first four virial coefficients. The first coefficient (alone) yields the Henry's law regime, while the next three correct for the effects of interactions. The results permit exploration of the idea of universal adsorption behavior, which is compared with experimental data for a number of systems

Thin helium film on a glass substrate

We investigate by Monte Carlo simulations the structure, energetics and superfluid properties of thin helium-four films (up to four layers) on a glass substrate, at low temperature. The first adsorbed layer is found to be solid and "inert", i.e., atoms are localized and do not participate to quantum exchanges. Additional layers are liquid, with no clear layer separation above the second one. It is found that a single helium-three impurity resides on the outmost layer, not significantly further away from the substrate than helium-four atoms on the same layer.Comment: Six figures, submitted for publication to the Journal of Low Temperature Physic

Vibrations of a chain of Xe atoms in a groove of carbon nanotube bundle

We present a lattice dynamics study of the vibrations of a linear chain of Xe adsorbates in groove positions of a bundle of carbon nanotubes. The characteristic phonon frequencies are calculated and the adsorbate polarization vectors discussed. Comparison of the present results with the ones previously published shows that the adsorbate vibrations cannot be treated as completely decoupled from the vibrations of carbon nanotubes and that a significant hybridization between the adsorbate and the tube modes occurs for phonons of large wavelengths.Comment: 3 PS figure

Net Charge on a Noble Gas Atom Adsorbed on a Metallic Surface

Adsorbed noble gas atoms donate (on the average) a fraction of an electronic charge to the substrate metal. The effect has been experimentally observed as an adsorptive change in the electronic work function. The connection between the effective net atomic charge and the binding energy of the atom to the metal is theoretically explored.Comment: ReVvTeX 3.1 format, Two Figures, Three Table

Liberating Efimov physics from three dimensions

When two particles attract via a resonant short-range interaction, three particles always form an infinite tower of bound states characterized by a discrete scaling symmetry. It has been considered that this Efimov effect exists only in three dimensions. Here we review how the Efimov physics can be liberated from three dimensions by considering two-body and three-body interactions in mixed dimensions and four-body interaction in one dimension. In such new systems, intriguing phenomena appear, such as confinement-induced Efimov effect, Bose-Fermi crossover in Efimov spectrum, and formation of interlayer Efimov trimers. Some of them are observable in ultracold atom experiments and we believe that this study significantly broadens our horizons of universal Efimov physics.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, contribution to a special issue of Few-Body Systems devoted to Efimov Physic

Boson gas in a periodic array of tubes

We report the thermodynamic properties of an ideal boson gas confined in an infinite periodic array of channels modeled by two, mutually perpendicular, Kronig-Penney delta-potentials. The particle's motion is hindered in the x-y directions, allowing tunneling of particles through the walls, while no confinement along the z direction is considered. It is shown that there exists a finite Bose- Einstein condensation (BEC) critical temperature Tc that decreases monotonically from the 3D ideal boson gas (IBG) value $T_{0}$ as the strength of confinement $P_{0}$ is increased while keeping the channel's cross section, $a_{x}a_{y}$ constant. In contrast, Tc is a non-monotonic function of the cross-section area for fixed $P_{0}$. In addition to the BEC cusp, the specific heat exhibits a set of maxima and minima. The minimum located at the highest temperature is a clear signal of the confinement effect which occurs when the boson wavelength is twice the cross-section side size. This confinement is amplified when the wall strength is increased until a dimensional crossover from 3D to 1D is produced. Some of these features in the specific heat obtained from this simple model can be related, qualitatively, to at least two different experimental situations: $^4$He adsorbed within the interstitial channels of a bundle of carbon nanotubes and superconductor-multistrand-wires Nb$_{3}$Sn.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, submitte

Universality in the Three-Body Problem for 4He Atoms

The two-body scattering length a for 4He atoms is much larger than their effective range r_s. As a consequence, low-energy few-body observables have universal characteristics that are independent of the interaction potential. Universality implies that, up to corrections suppressed by r_s/a, all low-energy three-body observables are determined by a and a three-body parameter \Lambda_*. We give simple expressions in terms of a and \Lambda_* for the trimer binding energy equation, the atom-dimer scattering phase shifts, and the rate for three-body recombination at threshold. We determine \Lambda_* for several 4He potentials from the calculated binding energy of the excited state of the trimer and use it to obtain the universality predictions for the other low-energy observables. We also use the calculated values for one potential to estimate the effective range corrections for the other potentials.Comment: 23 pages, revtex4, 6 ps figures, references added, universal expressions update