37 research outputs found
Thermodynamic Potential for Superfluid 3He in Aerogel
We present a free energy functional for superfluid 3He in the presence of
homogeneously distributed impurity disorder which extends the Ginzburg-Landau
free energy functional to all temperatures. We use the new free energy
functional to calculate the thermodynamic potential, entropy, heat capacity and
density of states for the B-phase of superfluid 3He in homogeneous, isotropic
aerogel.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
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
Spectroscopic Observations of Mercury’s Surface Reflectance During MESSENGER’s First Mercury Flyby
During MESSENGER’s first flyby of Mercury, the Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer made simultaneous mid-ultraviolet to near-infrared (wavelengths of 200 to 1300 nanometers) reflectance observations of the surface. An ultraviolet absorption (<280 nanometers) suggests that the ferrous oxide (Fe2+) content of silicates in average surface material is low (less than 2 to 3 weight percent). This result is supported by the lack of a detectable 1-micrometer Fe2+ absorption band in high-spatial-resolution spectra of mature surface materials as well as immature crater ejecta, which suggests that the ferrous iron content may be low both on the surface and at depth. Differences in absorption features and slope among the spectra are evidence for variations in composition and regolith maturation of Mercury’s surface
Preliminary measurements on coupling between superfluid He-3 and Kapton or aerogel in the low temperature limit.
We report preliminary measurements of the coupling between superfluid He-3-B and Kapton or Aerogel samples at very low temperatures. The small Kapton or Aerogel sample is placed, in a quasiparticle black body radiator. The temperature of the ambient H-3 is monitored while the magnetic field on the solid samples is changed. Initial results show that both samples produce large amounts of cooling (or heating) as the field is decreased (or increased). There is also evidence from a large heat capacity of ferromagnetic solid He-3 on the surface of the aerogel as well as at least two distinct physical energy-exchange processes, one rapid and one slow