A Wave Function Describing Superfluidity in a Perfect Crystal

Abstract

We propose a many-body wave function that exhibits both diagonal and off-diagonal long-range order. Incorporating short-range correlations due to interatomic repulsion, this wave function is shown to allow condensation of zero-point lattice vibrations and phase rigidity. In the presence of an external velocity field, such a perfect crystal will develop non-classical rotational inertia, exhibiting the supersolid behavior. In a sample calculation we show that the superfluid fraction in this state can be as large as of order 0.01 in a reasonable range of microscopic parameters. The relevance to the recent experimental evidence of a supersolid state by Chan and Kim is discussed.

final version to be published in Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment

References in corpus (3)

• On the Supersolid State of Matter
• Ring exchanges and the supersolid phase of 4He
• Superflow in Solid 4He

Cited by in corpus (7)

• What makes a crystal supersolid ?
• Off-Diagonal Long-Range Order in Solid 4He
• Bose-Einstein Quantum Statistics and the Ground State of Solid 4He
• The elastic constants of solid 4He under pressure: a diffusion Monte Carlo study
• Ground-state properties and superfluidity of two- and quasi two-dimensional solid 4He
• Off-diagonal Long-Range Order and Supersolidity in a Quantum Solid with Vacancies
• Parent Hamiltonians of Jastrow Wavefunctions