E. S. Hernández

Wetting of Spherical Surfaces by Quantum Fluids

We study adsorption of atoms and fluids on spherical surfaces and present resugts for helium on weak to moderately strong adsorbers such as Cs, Li and Mg. We investigate the growth of a helium film as a function of the number of atoms, by means of a finite range density functional theory. We identify a crossover between nonadsorption and weak adsorption as the sphere radius increases. Path Integral Monte Carlo simulations provide semiquantitative support to these predictions.

A New Class of 1D States for Liquid 3He

We examine the structure and energetics of 4He drops with added 3He atoms, deposited on flat alkali surfaces at zero temperature, and find that single 3He particles populate one dimensional bound states localized around the contact line. We analyze the possibility of a new type of Luttinger liquid behavior in mixtures of helium isotopes on Cs substrates, and examine possible measurable manifestations of the presence of these rings, such as the spectrum of undamped spin density fluctuations.

Excitations of Bose Fluids in Nanotubes

We discuss the excitation spectra of Bose fluids in the quasi-one dimensional geometries which can be found in interstitial channels of nanotubes and inside individual nanotubes. We compute the collective excitations of the fluids adsorbed in these environments, using alternative models, and show that the heat capacity remains sufficiently large to be easily measured.