Low-temperature anomalies in solid 4He (Review article)

Abstract

The thermodynamic and mechanic anomalies within the region 0.1–0.5 K experimentally observed in hexagonal close-packed solid 4He crystal are discussed and interpreted on the basis of a polytypic HCP structure (close-packed stack of 2D crystalline planes on the triangular lattice). It elucidated the principal role of the stacking faults and Shockley’s partial dislocations in the quite unexpected low-temperature behavior of the solid 4He.