Low-density phases of ${}^3$He monolayers adsorbed on graphite

Abstract

Quantum Monte Carlo simulations at zero temperature of a ${}^3$He monolayer adsorbed on graphite, either clean or preplated with ${}^4$He, unexpectedly point to a gas-liquid phase transition at a very low areal density of the order of 0.01Å${}^{-2}$. This result stems from an essentially unbiased calculation of the ground state energy for an infinite, defect-free substrate which interacts with He atoms via a realistic potential, whereas the interaction between two He atoms includes two- and three-body terms. The sensitivity of the gas-liquid coexistence region on the model Hamiltonian employed is discussed.

8 pages, 9 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Phase diagram of 4He adsorbed on graphite
• Population size bias in Diffusion Monte Carlo
• Iterative backflow renormalization procedure for many-body ground state wave functions of strongly interacting normal Fermi liquids

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Second layer crystalline phase of helium films on graphite
• 3He on preplated graphite
• Fluid and registered phases in the second layer of 3He on graphite
• Superconducting Niobium Calorimeter for Studies of Adsorbed Helium Monolayers