The Supersolid Phase of Matter
Speaker:
Matthias Troyer, ETH Zurich
Date & Time:
February 12, 2008 - 1:30pm
Location:
Room 385E Serin Physics Lab | The Supersolid Phase of Matter Physics and Astronomy |
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| Matthias Troyer, ETH Zurich 1:30 p.m. Room 385E Serin Physics Lab For nearly half a century the supersolid phase of matter has remained mysterious, not only eluding experimental observation, but also generating a great deal of controversy among theorists. Recent discovery of a non-classical moment of inertia at low temperature in solid Helium-4 [1,2] has stirred much excitement as a possible first observation of a supersolid. I will review the experiments and present our large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations [3-5] of supersolid behavior in Helium crystals. While we find that a perfect quantum crystal of Helium is insulating [3], we also find that crystallographic defects such as grain boundaries[4] and dislocations[5] can carry superflow. I will finally touch on the question of what is needed to observe a supersolid in a perfect quantum crystal. [1] E. Kim and M. H.W. Chan, Nature (London) 427, 225 (2004). [2] E. Kim and M. H.W. Chan, Science 305, 1941 (2004). [3] M. Boninsegni, A. Kuklov, L. Pollet, N. Prokof'ev, B. Svistunov, M. Troyer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 080401 (2006). [4] L. Pollet, M. Boninsegni, A. Kuklov, N. Prokof'ev, B. Svistunov, M. Troyer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 135301 (2007). [5] M. Boninsegni, A. Kuklov, L. Pollet, N. Prokof'ev, B. Svistunov, M. Troyer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 035301 (2007). |