Consequences of spontaneous and anomalous symmetry breaking for the orbital and mass flow hydrodynamics of He-3 - A

Thesis/Dissertation · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1992

OSTI ID:6174081

Gaitan, F P

In this thesis the author addresses three problems associated with the mass flow and orbital hydrodynamics of He-3 - A. The first concerns the form of the T = 0 mass current in local equilibrium; the second is a paradox associated with the non-conservation of superfluid linear momentum at T = 0; and the third involves a longstanding disagreement between past calculations of the intrinsic angular momentum in He-3 - A. These problems are more fully described in chapter 1 along with a brief review of the generalized Hartree-Fock approach to the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory of superconductivity. In chapter 2 is described the formulation of the quasiparticle dynamics. In chapter 3 is demonstrated the occurrence of anomalous symmetry breaking in He-3 - A, and in chapter 4 the way the first two problems can be understood as consequences of this anomalous symmetry breaking is shown. In chapter 5 the intrinsic orbital angular momentum is caculated via a Berry phase argument and also through a calculation that is careful to account for backflow currents which are necessary for the maintenance of particle number conservation in the superfluid phase. On the basis of the latter calculation an explanation is proposed for the disagreement in past calculations of the intrinsic orbital angular momentum in He-3 - A.

• Research Organization: Illinois Univ., Urbana, IL (United States)
• OSTI ID: 6174081
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

665420* -- Superfluidity-- (1992-)
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ANGULAR MOMENTUM
BCS THEORY
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
FLUID MECHANICS
HELIUM 3
HELIUM 3 A
HELIUM ISOTOPES
HYDRODYNAMICS
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
LINEAR MOMENTUM
MASS
MECHANICS
NUCLEI
ORBITAL ANGULAR MOMENTUM
STABLE ISOTOPES
SYMMETRY BREAKING