Effective mass of oneHe3atom in liquidHe4

Abstract

It is shown that the optimal Feynman-Cohen backflow wave function gives an effective mass of ${(1.7\mathrm{}\pm 0.1)m}_3$ for the effective mass of a ${}_{}{}^3{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{He}$ atom in liquid ${}_{}{}^4{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{He}$, as compared with the measured value of ${2.3m}_3$ at zero pressure. Five different approximations to the three-particle distribution function are investigated and it is shown that poor approximations can lead to larger values for the effective mass. A simple explanation for the discrepancy with experiment is proposed.