B phase nucleation and A-B interface dynamics in superfluid 3He
Palmeri, John Peter
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/25093
Description
Title
B phase nucleation and A-B interface dynamics in superfluid 3He
Author(s)
Palmeri, John Peter
Issue Date
1989
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Leggett, Anthony J.
Department of Study
Physics
Discipline
Physics
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
3He-B phase
A-B interface dynamics
superfluid 3He
primary B phase nucleation
exotic non-equilibrium
Language
en
Abstract
This thesis deals with the theory of the primary nucleation and subsequent expansion of the
superfluid 3He-B phase in the metastable, hypercooled A phase. An overview of the theory of
dynamical phenomena in Fermi superfluids is presented in Chapter 1 with an eye towards formulating
a theory suitable for studying the dynamics of the first order A-B phase transition.
The mechanism for the primary B phase nucleation in the metastable A is not at all understood,
and in Chapter 2 various possibilities are discussed, although no resolution to the problem is
reached. The focus here is on an exotic non-equilibrium, cosmic ray, mechanism, which involves
non-hydrodynamic heat transport in a state far from equilibrium. Chapter 3 deals with some
idealized, model transport problems inspired by the physics behind the cosmic-ray mechanism,
and it is shown that certain non-hydrodynamic dynamical structures similar to the ones needed
in the cosmic-ray mechanism can form in these model problems. An application of superfluid
kinetic equations to the nonlinear, dissipative motion of the A-B interface is discussed in Chapter
4; in particular, the mobility of the phase boundary is obtained in several different dynamical
regimes (depending on temperature and pressure), including the (currently) experimentally relevant
ballistic regime where the Andreev scattering of normal excitations off the moving interface
strongly influences the dynamics. The theoretical prediction for the terminal velocity is too big
by a factor ~ 2, and possible reasons for this discrepancy are discussed. A study of the stability
and vibrations of the interface is presented in Chapter 5, where we argue that (1) the moving
planar interface is linearly stable and (2) it should be possible to observe underdamped vibrations
of a pinned interface at low temperatures. Finally, in Chapter 6 we point out other possible
applications of the dynamical theory formulated here and list some open problems.
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