ISSN Online: 2377-424X
International Heat Transfer Conference 12
Quantum nucleation of bubbles in liquid helium near the absolute zero temperature
Resumo
As the temperature of liquid under negative pressure approaches the absolute zero, the nucleation process due to
thermal fluctuations hardly occurs. Instead of this thermal motion, quantum fluctuations may lead the formation
of nucleus for new phase in metastable state. In this study, the thermal as well as quantum nucleation of bubbles
and the cross-over temperature from the thermal to the quantum regime in liquid helium under negative pressure
was investigated theoretically. The energy barrier against nucleation was estimated by molecular interaction due
to the London' dispersion force. It is shown that the phase transition from liquid to vapor is only possible due to
the quantum tunneling below 0.25 K for helium-4 and 0.175 K for helium-3.