Theory of the anomalous specific heat of solid hydrogen with a neon impurity

Abstract

A study is made concerning the effect which an isotopic impurity has on the thermodynamic properties of the rotational subsystem in solid hydrogen. It is shown that, with an isotopic impurity present in a quantum crystal, the rotational level of orthohydrogen molecules will split, and clusters of the “impurity-orthohydrogen” kind will form. The thermodynamic relations are derived for solid hydrogen with a heavy impurity in a solution which is at equilibrium (with respect to the processes of breakdown and formation of orthohydrogen molecule clusters). Two special cases are considered, namely an infinitely heavy impurity and an impurity with the mass of neon. The results of analysis are compared with experimental data.

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Identifiers

DOI

10.1063/10.0029260

Citations and references