Onset of convection in a binary mixture near the plait point
Recent experiments on the onset of convection near the liquid-vapor critical point of 3He have shown the crossover from the Rayleigh criterion to the Schwarzschild criterion for the threshold of convection as the critical point is approached. In contrast we show that for 3He-4He mixtures near the liquid-vapor critical point (plait point), the Rayleigh criterion would hold right through. Interestingly enough, this is a consequence of the proper boundary conditions. This prediction should be easy to test experimentally.
Das
KS
Department of Theoretical Physics, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Jadavpur, Calcutta, India.
Bhattacharjee
JK