CMT184

The Heat Capacity of ³He-B in Silica Aerogel

• Author(s): J. A. Sauls
• Journal: Journal of Low Temperature Physics, 213:42-50 (2023) [DOI] [arXiv]. [Springer Read Only].
• Abstract: The thermodynamic potential for superfluid ³He-B embedded in a homogeneously distributed random impurity potential is calculated from a quasiclassical reduction of the Luttinger-Ward functional to leading order in k_BT_c/E_f, i.e. the weak-coupling limit. The resulting functional provides an extension of the Ginzburg-Landau free energy functional to all temperatures 0 ≤ T ≤ T_c. Theoretical predictions based on this functional for the heat capacity of superfluid ³He-B embedded in homogeneous, isotropic silica aerogel are in good agreement with experimental reports for superfluid ³He-B infused into 98.2% porous silica aerogel over the pressure range p=11−29 bar. The analysis supports a conclusion that superfluid ³He-B infused into high-porosity silica aerogels is a gapless superfluid at all pressures.

• Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures

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