Freezing of 4He and its liquid-solid interface from density functional theory

We show that, at high densities, fully variational solutions of solidlike types can be obtained from a density functional formalism originally designed for liquid 4He . Motivated by this finding, we propose an extension of the method that accurately describes the solid phase and the freezing transit...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Ancilotto, Francesco, Barranco Gómez, Manuel, Caupin, F., Mayol Sánchez, Ricardo, Pi Pericay, Martí
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2005
País:España
Recursos:Universidad de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/10553
Acesso em linha:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/10553
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Líquids quàntics
Teoria del funcional de densitat
Heli
Equacions d'estat
Quantum fluids
Density functional theory
Helium
Equations of state
Descrição
Resumo:We show that, at high densities, fully variational solutions of solidlike types can be obtained from a density functional formalism originally designed for liquid 4He . Motivated by this finding, we propose an extension of the method that accurately describes the solid phase and the freezing transition of liquid 4He at zero temperature. The density profile of the interface between liquid and the (0001) surface of the 4He crystal is also investigated, and its surface energy evaluated. The interfacial tension is found to be in semiquantitative agreement with experiments and with other microscopic calculations. This opens the possibility to use unbiased density functional (DF) methods to study highly nonhomogeneous systems, like 4He interacting with strongly attractive impurities and/or substrates, or the nucleation of the solid phase in the metastable liquid.