Microscopic self-dynamics in liquid hydrogen and in its mixtures with deuterium

We have measured the dynamic structure factor of liquid parahydrogen, pure and mixed with deuterium, in various thermodynamic conditions using incoherent inelastic neutron scattering. The experiments were carried out on TOSCA-II, a new time-of-flight, inverse-geometry, crystal-analyzer spectrometer. After an accurate data reduction, the high-energy parts of the neutron spectra recorded in backward scattering were studied through the modified Young and Koppel model, from which the mean kinetic energy values for a hydrogen molecule were estimated. In addition the low-energy parts of the neutron spectra recorded in forward scattering were analyzed in the framework of the Gaussian approximation and fitted through a Levesque-Verlet model for the velocity autocorrelation function. Thus various physical quantities are determined and compared with accurate path integral Monte Carlo simulations. Despite the excellent quality of these fits, the velocity autocorrelation functions derived from the forward-scattering data appear totally unable to properly describe the backward-scattering ones. These findings prove an unquestionable breakdown of the Gaussian approximation in semiquantum liquids. The present results appear of great interest and suggest further investigation on the limits of the widely used Gaussian approximation.