Critical behavior of the free surface of liquid 4 He near the λ point

The noncriticality of the free surface of liquid 4 He near the λ point and the finite-size scaling postulate are combined to show that the surface tension can have two singularities, one due to rounding and another due to shifting. The rounding singularity can be reduced, via a further scaling assumption, to that previously suggested by Sobyanin and Hohenberg. Results from calculations based on continuous symmetry models and experiments on topologically 2D 4 He films are used to argue that the shift singularity is ¦ t ¦ 1−α , which is consistent with the leading singularity observed by Magerlein and Sanders.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44958/1/10909_2004_Article_BF00116990.pd