Accurate potential energy curve for helium dimer retrieved from viscosity coefficient data at very low temperatures

The long range potential of helium-helium interaction, which requires accurate ab initio calculation, due to the small value of the potential depth, approximately 11 K (9.5×10−4eV=0.091kJ∕mol) at 2.96 Å, will be obtained in this study by an alternative technique. This work presents a robust and consistent procedure that provides the long range potential directly from experimental data. However, it is difficult to obtain experimental data containing information regarding such a small potential depth. Thereby, sensitivity analysis will be used to circumvent this difficulty, from which viscosity data at lower temperatures (<5 K) were chosen as appropriate data to be used to retrieve the potential function between 3 and 4 Å. The linear relationship between the potential energy function and the viscosity coefficient will be established under quantum assumptions and the Bose-Einstein statistics. The use of quantum theory is essential, since the temperatures are below 5 K. The potential obtained in this study describes the viscosity with an average error of 1.7% that is less than the experimental error (5%), with the results being similar to those obtained for recent ab initio potentials.