Breakdown of sound in superfluid helium

Like elementary particles carry energy and momentum in the Universe, quasiparticles are the elementary carriers of energy and momentum quanta in condensed matter. And, like elementary particles, under certain conditions quasiparticles can be unstable and decay, emitting pairs of less energetic ones. Pitaevskii proposed that such processes exist in superfluid helium, a quantum fluid where the very concept of quasiparticles was borne, and which provided the first spectacular triumph of that concept. Pitaevskii's decays have important consequences, including possible breakdown of a quasiparticle. Here, we present neutron scattering experiments, which provide evidence that such decays explain the collapsing lifetime (strong damping) of higher-energy phonon-roton sound-wave quasiparticles in superfluid helium. This damping develops when helium is pressurized towards crystallization or warmed towards approaching the superfluid transition. Our results resolve a number of puzzles posed by previous experiments and reveal the ubiquity of quasiparticle decays and their importance for understanding quantum matter.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures main text; 11 supplementary pages with 8 supplementary figure

A glimpse of a Luttinger liquid

The concept of a Luttinger liquid has recently been established as a fundamental paradigm vital to our understanding of the properties of one-dimensional quantum systems, leading to a number of theoretical breakthroughs. Now theoretical predictions have been put to test by the comprehensive experimental study.Comment: Unedited version of N&V article in Nature materials 4, 273 (2005