Liquid helium and the properties of a Bose–Einstein gas. II. Effects of finite geometry

Abstract

The properties of liquid helium in thin film geometry are studied using both the ideal Bose–Einstein gas and the hard-sphere gas as models. Of particular interest is the occurrence of a statistical correlation length which has roughly the same value in both models and which may help explain some recent experimental results on the behavior of liquid helium in thin films and pores. The limitations of the methods used for the interacting gas are discussed in some detail.