What causes the drop of latent heat at lower temperatures in liquid helium?

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SUMMARY

The latent heat of evaporation for liquid helium (4He) exhibits a maximum around 3.1 K with a value of 94 J/mol, as detailed in the NIST document. Below this temperature, the latent heat sharply decreases to 59.83 J/mol. This phenomenon is attributed to the decrease in binding energy of the liquid due to thermal expansion and the increase in vapor density, which equalizes the binding energy at the critical point. The behavior of 3He mirrors that of 4He but with lower values for both heat of evaporation and temperature maximum.

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  • Understanding of latent heat concepts
  • Familiarity with phase transitions in liquids
  • Knowledge of thermodynamic principles, specifically binding energy
  • Basic grasp of helium isotopes, particularly 4He and 3He
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  • Research the thermodynamic properties of helium, focusing on latent heat variations
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Physicists, cryogenics researchers, and thermodynamics students interested in the properties of liquid helium and phase transition phenomena.

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The dependency of liquid He latent heat of evaporation on temperature shows a conspicuous maximum.
https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/srd/jpcrd551.pdf for
4He. Section 16, pages 1264-1266 on pages, 48-50 on pdf. From fig. 16.1 and table 16.3, the maximum is around 3,1 K and 94 J/mol. At lower temperatures, the latent heat drops sharply, though not to zero but 59,83 J/mol
3He has similar graph, though with lower heat of evaporation and lower temperature for maximum.

The drop of latent heat at higher temperatures is natural and common to liquids. With thermal expansion, the binding energy of liquid decreases; with increased vapour density, the binding energy of vapour increases and equalizes to the liquid binding energy at critical point.

What might be the reason for the drop of latent heat at lower temperature? I have not heard of it commented as any special property of liquid He.
Comment 5 at page 48 states that at low temperatures
L=L0+(5/2)RT
What is (5/2)R? Heat capacity of gas (the liquid´s being comparatively negligible)? Then which is the applicable one? He is monoatomic, so 3/2 would be constant volume, 5/2 constant pressure?
 
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Lambda point does make a notch in 4He latent heat, but that´s a completely different issue. Looks like the issue is that of the heat content of gaseous vs. condensed phases... and all substances should have a drop of latent heat of evaporation at low temperatures.
 

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