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Updated: May 18, 2026

On-Chip Crystallization and Large-Scale Serial Diffraction at Room Temperature
Published on: March 11, 2022
Role of Bose statistics in crystallization and quantum jamming
M Boninsegni1, L Pollet, N Prokof'ev
1Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2G7.
Abstract:
The indistinguishability of particles is a crucial factor destabilizing crystalline order in Bose systems. We describe this effect in terms of damped quasiparticle modes and in the dual language of Feynman paths, and illustrate it by first-principles simulations of dipolar bosons and bulk condensed 4He. The first major implication is that, contrary to conventional wisdom, zero-point motion alone cannot prevent 4He crystallization at near zero pressure. Second, Bose statistics leads to quantum jamming at finite temperature, dramatically enhancing the metastability of superfluid glasses. Only studies of indistinguishable particles can reliably address these issues.
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