Superfluid Avalanches in Nuclepore: Constrained versus Free-Boundary Experiments and Simulations
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Updated: Aug 30, 2026

Analyzing Melts and Fluids from Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Simulations with the UMD Package
Published on: September 17, 2021
1Laboratory for Low Temperature Physics, Department of Physics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA.
Abstract:
Superfluid 4He exhibits hysteretic behavior in the percolated nanoporous material Nuclepore during the filling and draining of pores due to capillary condensation, and one observes avalanches during the pore draining. We observe that the size and frequency of the avalanches depend upon whether the fluid flow off the substrate during draining is impeded or unimpeded. We simulate the draining of superfluid 4He from Nuclepore with and without a perturbation of the pore menisci and find results similar to the results seen in the experiments in the presence or the absence of flow inhibition.
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