A statistical fluctuations theory for hysteresis of persistent currents in liquid helium

✍ Scribed by B. Z. Joselson; M. Revzen

• Publisher: Springer US
• Year: 1975
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 638 KB
• Volume: 19
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-2291
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00115535

✦ Synopsis

A statistical theory is presented for the experimental appearance of critical velocities, hysteresis, and decay effects in persistent currents of liquid 4He. The persistent superfluid current is assigned with a set of states of fluctuation, characterized by the values of a small number of thermodynamic variables. Any measured state of persistent current flow is regarded as a statistical expectation value of the states of fluctuation, each of which is weighted by its own thermodynamic probability, in a manner closely related to the statistical treatment of Brownian motion. A phenomenological description by either a heat loss function or a free energy function is obtained, depending on the detailed method chosen for the statistical averaging.