A glass anomaly in the shear modulus of solid $^4$He

TL;DR

This paper models the anomalous shear modulus increase in solid $^4$He at low temperatures using a glass susceptibility framework, predicting frequency-independent maximum changes and dissipation peaks, which can be tested experimentally.

Contribution

It introduces a glass susceptibility model with a temperature-dependent relaxation time to explain the shear modulus anomaly in solid $^4$He, providing testable predictions.

Findings

Shear modulus increases by about 10% at low temperatures.

Maximum shear modulus change and dissipation peak are frequency-independent.

Model predicts different behaviors based on the temperature dependence of relaxation time.

Abstract

The shear modulus of solid $^4$He exhibits an anomalous change of order 10%[1, 2] at low temperatures that is qualitatively similar to the much smaller frequency change in torsional oscillator experiments. We propose that in solid $^4$He the stiffening of the shear modulus with decreasing temperature can be described with a glass susceptibility assuming a temperature dependent relaxation time $\tau(T)$. The glass susceptibility captures the freezing out of glassy degrees of freedom below a characteristic crossover temperature $T_X$. There the dynamic response of the solid satisfies $\omega \tau(T_X) \sim 1$, thus leading to an increase in the shear modulus. Within this model we predict that the maximum change of the amplitude of the shear modulus and the height of the dissipation peak are independent of the applied frequency $\omega$. Our calculations also show a qualitative difference in behavior of the shear modulus depending on the temperature behavior of the glass relaxation time $\tau(T)$. These predictions can be tested by comparing the complex shear modulus with experiments at different frequencies and for different levels of disorder. [1] J. Day and J. Beamish, Nature 150, 853 (2007). [2] J. Day, O. Syshchenko, J. Beamish, Phys. Rev. B 79, 214524(2009).