- #1
sam_bell
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Hi. I was just reading the explanation of superfluidity in He-4 (from the beginning of QFT Methods in Statistical Physics by Abrikosov et. al.). There is something I don't understand. At finite temperatures there is a "gas of excitations", which they take to be moving at an average velocity v relative to the stationary liquid. They then derive that the quasi-momentum of this gas (per unit volume) is P = (const.) v. They claim this constant represents a mass and therefore there is mass transfer and that this part of the liquid is "normal". The rest of the mass is taken to be in the ground state superfluid. OK, my question: If we are talking about *quasi-*momentum, how can we be sure that there is really mass transfer? After all, a single quasi-particle has quasi-momentum, but this doesn't correspond to mass transfer as a drift of He-4 atoms.
I suppose this is related to diffraction experiments, where is deflection of photon has a conversation law written in terms of quasi-momentum.
Helpful thoughts?
I suppose this is related to diffraction experiments, where is deflection of photon has a conversation law written in terms of quasi-momentum.
Helpful thoughts?