Abstract
The energetics of superfluid films of 4 He adsorbed on planar substrates is studied. For this purpose, the energy per particle of the systems e is expressed as a polynomial expansion in powers of the inverse of coverage. The surface energy σA and the chemical potential μ, defined according to basic equations of thermodynamics, are written in terms of the proposed expansion. From the expression derived for the third-sound velocity c3 it is possible to estimate the prewetting jump. This formalism is applied for analyzing films adsorbed on alkali metal and H 2 surfaces. For all the examined substrates the determined energy per particle in the limit of films with infinite width, e∞ , is in agreement with the value for bulk liquid 4 He. The surface tensions and prewetting jumps obtained in the present work are compared with results of previous studies.
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