Anomalous low temperature specific heat of He-3 inside nanotube bundles

TL;DR

This paper investigates the unique low-temperature specific heat behavior of He-3 atoms confined in carbon nanotube bundles, revealing anomalous thermodynamic properties due to heterogeneity-induced density of states.

Contribution

It demonstrates that heterogeneity in nanotube channels causes He-3 to exhibit a density of states akin to a 4D gas at low energies, affecting its heat capacity.

Findings

He-3 exhibits a density of states similar to a 4D gas at low energies.

The heat capacity shows anomalous dependence on coverage.

Heterogeneity significantly alters thermodynamic behavior.

Abstract

Helium atoms and hydrogen molecules can be strongly bound inside interstitial channels within bundles of carbon nanotubes. An exploration of the low energy and low temperature properties of He-3 atoms is presented here. Recent study of the analogous He-4 system has shown that the effect of heterogeneity is to yield a density of states N(E) that is qualitatively different from the one-dimensional (1D) form of N(E) that would occur for an ideal set of identical channels. In particular, the functional form of N(E) is that of a 4D gas near the very lowest energies and a 2D gas at somewhat higher energies. Similar behavior is found here for He-3. The resulting thermodynamic behavior of this fermi system is computed, yielding an anomalous form of the heat capacity and its dependence on coverage.