Deep inelastic neutron scattering anomalies and quantum decoherence in condensed matter

D. Colognesi

A. Chiesa, F. Tacchino, M. Grossi +4 more

Roger Arthur Cowley

It is shown that quantum entanglement in condensed matter can be observed with scattering experiments if the energy resolution of the experiments enables a clear separation between the elastic scattering and the scattering from the excitations in the system. These conditions are not satisfied in recent deep inelastic neutron scattering experiments from hydrogen-containing systems that have been interpreted as showing the existence of quantum entanglement for short times in, for example, water at room temperature. It is shown that the theory put forward to explain these experiments is inconsistent with the first-moment sum rule for the Van Hove scattering function and we suggest that the theory is incorrect. The experiments were performed using the unique EVS spectrometer at ISIS and suggestions are made about how the data and their interpretation should be re-examined.

E. Karlsson

Richard N. Silver

The discovery of superfluidity in liquid {sup 4}He below T{sub {lambda}} = 2.17 K, and its phenomenological characterization since then, has been one of the great success stories of condensed matter physics. The relation of superfluidity to the behavior of atoms was conjectured by F. London in 1938. Superfluidity is a manifestation of the Bose condensation of helium atoms, the extensive occupation of the zero momentum state. Ever since {sup 4}He has been the paradigm in the search for Bose condensates in other systems. At the Pune meeting scientists have heard exciting new evidence for Bose condensates of laser cooled alkali atoms in magnetic traps, of excitons in Cu{sub 2}O, and possibly pre-formed Cooper pairs of electrons in the high {Tc} perovskite superconductors. There remains the holy-grail of forming a Bose condensate in spin-polarized hydrogen. In the current excitement for new types of Bose condensates, and new phenomena such as atom lasers, it may be useful to recall the older story of the experimental verification of a relation between superfluidity and Bose condensation in {sup 4}He. This topic has been investigated over many years by neutron scattering experiments and quantum many-body theory. The authors goal is to illustrate the difficulties of establishing the existence of a Bose condensate in a strongly interacting system, even though its macroscopic effects are manifest. The author assumes readers have access to a review by Silver and Sokol which emphasizes the neutron scattering theory through 1990 and a review by Snow and Sokol of the deep inelastic neutron scattering (DINS) experiments through 1995.

Nikolay Tsyrulin