Paper detail

Ground state of small mixed helium and spin-polarized tritium clusters: a quantum Monte Carlo stud

We report results for the ground-state energy and structural properties of small $^4$He-T$\downarrow$ clusters consisting of up to 4 T$\downarrow$ and 8 $^4$He atoms. These results have been obtained using very well-known $^4$He-$^4$He and T$\downarrow$-T$\downarrow$ interaction potentials and several models for the $^4$He-T$\downarrow$ interatomic potential. All the calculations have been performed with variational and diffusion Monte Carlo methods. It takes at least three atoms to form a mixed bound state. In particular, for small clusters the binding energies are significantly affected by the precise form of the $^4$He-T$\downarrow$ interatomic potential but the stability limits remain unchanged. The only exception is the $^4$He$_2$T$\downarrow$ trimer whose stability in the case of the weakest $^4$He-T$\downarrow$ interaction potential is uncertain, while it seems stable for other potentials. The mixed trimer $^4$He(T$\downarrow$)$_2$, a candidate for Borromean state, is not bound. All other studied clusters are stable. Some of the weakest bound clusters can be classified as quantum halos, as a consequence of having high probability of being in a classically forbidden region.