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Australian Journal of Physics Australian Journal of Physics Society
A journal for the publication of original research in all branches of physics
RESEARCH ARTICLE

The Structure of Quantum Fluids: Helium and Neon

AD Klemm and RG Storer

Australian Journal of Physics 26(1) 43 - 60
Published: 1973

Abstract

A procedure for the evaluation of the path integrals for the two-particle statistical density matrix at low temperatures is described. It is applied to both helium and neon, the first being the paradigm of a quantum mechanical gas and the second exhibiting weaker, but still significant, quantum effects at temperatures above the triple point. The density independent part of the pair-correlation functions and the second virial coefficients are obtained from these quantities. Three- and many-particle quantum properties are examined by approximating the Slater sum by a product of Boltzmann factors, each factor containing an effective pair-potential defined from the results of the two-particle case. The radial distribution function, obtained from a Percus-Yevick equation using this effective potential, demonstrates the validity of using the effective potential approximation as a tool for studying quantum properties by giving satisfactory results for helium and good agreement with experiment for neon.

https://doi.org/10.1071/PH730043

© CSIRO 1973

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