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A numerical investigation of the finite-size scaling properties of superfluid helium

We numerically investigate the finite-size scaling properties of the superfluid density and of the specific heat of superfluid $\sp4He$ confined in cubic and film geometries by using the $x - y$ model and the Cluster Monte-Carlo method. We show that the superfluid density and the specific heat of $\sp4He$, confined in a cubic geometry, scale with respect to the linear length of the system according to finite-size scaling theory, and we derive the temperature dependence of these quantities in the bulk limit by extrapolating the values of the superfluid density and the specific heat obtained for finite lattices to the values corresponding to a lattice of infinite extent. In the case of the film geometry, $\sp4He$ exhibits a Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition at the thickness-dependent critical temperature, i.e., close to this temperature superfluid helium behaves effectively two-dimensional. We show that the boundary conditions imposed in the top and bottom layers of the film strongly influence the shape of the universal scaling functions of the superfluid density and the specific heat with respect to the film thickness. We always compare our results to the experiments. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-04, Section: B, page: 2111. / Major Professor: Efstratios Manousakis. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_77452
ContributorsSchultka, Norbert., Florida State University
Source SetsFlorida State University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeText
Format120 p.
RightsOn campus use only.
RelationDissertation Abstracts International

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