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Summary: Path Integral Monte Carlo study of phonons
in the bcc phase of 4
He
V. Sorkin, E. Polturak and Joan Adler
Department of Physics
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology.
1
Introduction & Objectives
Solid helium, the well-known example of a quantum solid, continues to be a
subject of interest to theorists and experimentalists alike. It is characterized
by large zero-point motion and significant short-range correlation of its atoms.
These effects make the theoretical description of the solid very difficult.
The self - consistent phonon method [1], was developed to treat this problem.
The theoretical predictions agree well with experiment in the fcc and hcp solid
phases. In the low-density bcc phase, the agreement between the theory and
experiment is less satisfactory, in particular regarding the transverse phonons
along the [110] direction. Therefore, we decided to calculate the phonon spec-
trum in the bcc phase using Quantum Monte Carlo simulations [2].
2
Models & Methods
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