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.