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When temperatures are low enough, every substance in thermal equilibrium must become ordered. Since some materials remain fluid even to the lowest temperatures, it is fascinating to ask how this ordering can take place. One possibility is the formation of a superfluid state, one in which there is macroscopic quantum order-or what may be called quantum mechanics in a tea-cup. Designed for final-year undergraduates or beginning graduate students, Basic Superfluids begins with these ideas. The author assumes some knowledge of quantum, statistical, and thermal physics, and builds on this background to give a readable introduction to the three superfluids of low temperature physics.
List of contents
What Happens at Low Temperatures. Entropy, Ordering and the Third Law. The Third Law of Thermodynamics and Ordering. Ordering in Helium. What makes a superfluid? What makes a superfluid superfluid? Liquid ^T4He. Some properties of Liquid ^T4He in the two-fluid region. Elementary excitations and the critical verlocity. Quantum effects, verlocity and rotation. Thermal and mechanical effects revisited. Experimental Techniques. Cooling methods. Thermometry and thermal contact. Superconductivity. The basic properties of superconductors. The wave function and electrodynamics. BCS theory and its consequences. Some other properties of superconductors. Liquid ^T3He. Some theoretical ideas. Experimental properties of superfluid ^T3He. Superconductivity in other ^T3He systems.
About the author
Tony Guenault
Summary
Assuming some basic knowledge of quantum, statistical and thermal physics, this title builds on this background to give an introduction to the three superfluids of low temperature physics. The emphasis throughout is on physical principles rather than technical detail, with the aim of introducing the subject in an accessible yet authoritative way.
