1/t pressure and fermion behaviour of water in two dimensions

Abstract

A variety of metal vacuum systems display the celebrated 1/t pressure, namely power-law dependence on time t, with the exponent close to unity, the origin of which has been a long-standing controversy. Here we propose a chemisorption model for water adsorbates, based on the argument for fermion behaviour of water vapour adsorbed on a stainless-steel surface, and obtain analytically the power-law behaviour of pressure, with an exponent of unity. Further, the model predicts that the pressure should depend on the temperature T according to T^(3/2), which is indeed confirmed by our experiment. Our results should help elucidate the unique characteristics of the adsorbed water.