Role of Bose Statistics in Crystallization and Quantum Jamming

Indistinguishability of particles is a major factor destabilizing crystalline order in Bose systems. We describe this effect in terms of damped quasi-particle modes and in the dual language of Feynman paths, and illustrate it by first-principle simulations of dipolar bosons and bulk condensed helium-four. The first major implication is that, contrary to conventional wisdom, zero-point motion alone cannot prevent helium-four crystallization at low temperature, at saturated vapour pressure. Secondly, 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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