https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2014-50697-9
Regular Article
Superfluidity of helium-4 around a Mg11 cluster
1 Institut für Theoretische Physik,
Johannes Kepler Universität, A 4040
Linz,
Austria
2 Department of Physics, University at
Buffalo, SUNY,
Buffalo
NY
14260,
USA
a
e-mail: robert.zillich@jku.at
Received:
22
September
2014
Received in final form:
21
October
2014
Published online:
16
December
2014
We present results for 4He solvation of a Mg11 cluster obtained with path integral Monte Carlo simulations. Using a pair-wise additive model for the helium-cluster interaction, we calculate energies, 4He densities and the superfluid response of 4He to a rotation of the Mg11 cluster which has symmetric top symmetry. We find a significant superfluid fraction in the first 4He solvation layer around both axes of the cluster well before 4He covers the whole cluster. Based on the superfluid fraction, we estimate that Mg11 in a large 4He nanodroplet would have an effective rotational constant between 60% and 70% of the gas phase rotational constant for rotation about the axis with larger moment of inertia. The dependence of the effective rotational constants on 4He cluster size N is similar to that of previously studied molecules with much larger gas phase rotational constants, with an initial decrease and a turn-around (at N = 13) when part of the 4He density becomes superfluid.
Key words: Clusters and Nanostructures
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag 2014