Degree Department

A Theoretical Investigation of Bound Roton Pairs in Superfluid Helium-4 (open access)

A Theoretical Investigation of Bound Roton Pairs in Superfluid Helium-4

The Bogoliubov theory of excitations in superfluid helium is used to study collective modes at zero temperature. A repulsive delta function shell potential is used in the quasiparticle excitation energy spectrum to fit the observed elementary excitation spectrum, except in the plateau region. The linearized equation of motion method is used to obtain the secular equation for a collective mode consisting of a linear combination of one and two free quasiparticles of zero total momentum. It is shown that in this case for high-lying collective modes, vertices involving three quasiparticles cancel, and only vertices involving four quasiparticles are important. A decomposition into various angular momentum states is then made. Bound roton pairs in the angular momentum D-state observed in light-scattering experiments exist only for an attractive coupling between helium atoms in this oversimplified model. Thus, the interaction between particles can be reinterpreted as a phenomenological attractive coupling between quasiparticles, in order to explain the Raman scattering from bound roton pairs in superfluid helium.
Date: August 1974
Creator: Cheng, Shih-ta
System: The UNT Digital Library
K-Shell Ionization Cross Sections of Selected Elements from Ag to La for Proton Bombardment from 0.6 to 2.0 MeV (open access)

K-Shell Ionization Cross Sections of Selected Elements from Ag to La for Proton Bombardment from 0.6 to 2.0 MeV

The K-shell x-ray and ionization cross sections are measured for protons on Ag, Cd, Sn, Sb, Te, Ba, and La over the ion energy range of 0.6 to 2.0 MeV. The data are compared to the predictions of the PWBA, the PWBA with corrections for binding energy and/or Coulomb deflection, the BEA, and the constrained BEA predictions. In general, the non-relativistic PWBA with binding energy correction gives the best overall agreement with the measurements of proton-induced x-ray processes for the K-shell of the elements studied in this work. The data further suggest the need for relativistic PWBA treatment of the interactions in the K-shell for the range of binding energies represented by the elements investigated in this work.
Date: May 1974
Creator: Khelil, Najat Arafat
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Role of Defects in the Quantum Size Effect (open access)

The Role of Defects in the Quantum Size Effect

This investigation is a theoretical study of the influence of defects of finite volume on the electrical conductivity in the quantum size effect regime. Correction terms to existing equations are derived, and a physical explanation of the results is given. Many macroscopic properties of films exhibit an oscillatory dependence on thickness when the thickness is comparable to the de Broglie wavelength of an electron at the Fermi surface. This behavior is called the quantum size effect. In very thin films, scattering from surfaces, phonons, and crystal defects plays an increasingly important role. In this investigation the influence of scattering centers (defects) in semimetal films on the electrical conductivity is explored by extending existing work to include scattering centers of finite range. The purpose of this study is to determine the overall change in the conductivity and the alteration of the amplitude of the oscillations. The Boltzmann transport equation is the starting point for the calculation. An equation for the vector mean free path is derived, and a solution is obtained by the iterative process. The relaxation approximation need not be made since the vector mean free path is determined. The sample is a thin slab that is infinite in two …
Date: December 1974
Creator: Malone, Farris D.
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Calculation of the Excitation Spectrum of Superfluid Helium-4 (open access)

A Calculation of the Excitation Spectrum of Superfluid Helium-4

The Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov theory of homogeneous boson systems at finite temperatures is rederived using, a free energy variational principle. It is shown that a t-matrix naturally emerges in the theory. Phenomenological modifications are made (1) to remove the energy gap at zero momentum, and (2) to eliminate the Hartree-Fock-like terms, which dress the kinetic energy of the particle. A numerical calculation of the energy spectrum is made over a temperature range of 0.00 to 3.14 K using the Morse dipole-dipole-2 potential and the Frost-Musulin potential. The energy spectrum of the elementary excitations is calculated self-consistently. It has a phonon behavior at low momentum and a roton behavior at higher momentum, so it is in qualitative agreement with the observed energy spectrum of liquid He II. However, the temperature dependence of the spectrum is incorrectly given. At the observed density of 0.0219 atoms A-3, the depletion of the zero-momentum state at zero temperature is 40.5% for the Morse dipole-dipole-2potential, and 43.2% for the Frost- Musulin potential. The depletion increases gradually until at 3.14 K the zero momentum density becomes zero discontinuously, which indicates a transition to the ideal Bose gas.
Date: May 1974
Creator: Goble, Gerald W.
System: The UNT Digital Library