Quantum Monte Carlo study of thin parahydrogen films on graphite

Abstract

The low-temperature properties of one and two layers of parahydrogen adsorbed on graphite are investigated theoretically through Quantum Monte Carlo simulations. We adopt a microscopic model that explicitly includes the corrugation of the substrate. We study the phase diagram of a monolayer up to second layer promotion, and the possible occurrence of superfluidity in the second layer. We obtain results down to a temperature as low as 8 mK. We find second-layer promotion to occur at a considerably greater coverage than obtained in previous calculations and estimated experimentally; moreover, we find no evidence of a possible finite superfluid response in the second layer, disproving recent theoretical predictions.