Path-integral Monte Carlo study of phonons in the bcc phase of Helium-3

TL;DR

This study employs Path Integral Monte Carlo and Maximum Entropy methods to compute phonon spectra in bcc phase of solid Helium-3 at finite temperature, providing insights into phonon behavior and validating against experimental data.

Contribution

First application of Path Integral Monte Carlo combined with Maximum Entropy to analyze phonons in solid Helium-3's bcc phase at finite temperature.

Findings

Calculated phonon dispersion relations along key crystallographic directions

Comparison shows good agreement with experimental data

Provides detailed insight into phonon dynamics in Helium-3

Abstract

Using Path Integral Monte Carlo and the Maximum Entropy method, we calculate the dynamic structure factor of solid He-3 in the bcc phase at a finite temperature of T = 1.6 K and a molar volume of 21.5 cm^3. From the single phonon dynamic structure factor, we obtain both the longitudinal and transverse phonon branches along the main crystalline directions, [001], [011] and [111]. Our results are compared with other theoretical predictions and available experimental data.