Absence of Off-Diagonal Long-Range Order in hcp ^{4}He Dislocation Cores

Phys Rev Lett. 2023 Jan 6;130(1):016001. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.016001.

Abstract

The mass transport properties along dislocation cores in hcp ^{4}He are revisited by considering two types of edge dislocations as well as a screw dislocation, using a fully correlated quantum simulation approach. Specifically, we employ the zero-temperature path-integral ground state (PIGS) method together with ergodic sampling of the permutation space to investigate the fundamental dislocation core structures and their off-diagonal long-range order properties. It is found that the Bose-Einstein condensate fraction of such defective ^{4}He systems is practically null (≤10^{-6}), just as in the bulk defect-free crystal. These results provide compelling evidence for the absence of intrinsic superfluidity in dislocation cores in hcp ^{4}He and challenge the superfluid dislocation-network interpretation of the mass-flux-experiment observations, calling for further experimental investigation.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Computer Simulation*
  • Male
  • Temperature