Internal Waves in CVX

Abstract

Near the liquid-vapor critical point, density stratification supports internal gravity waves which affect 1-g viscosity measurements in the CVX (Critical Viscosity of Xenon) experiment. Two internal-wave modes were seen in the horizontal viscometer. The frequencies of the two modes had different temperature dependences: with decreasing temperature, the higher frequency increased monotonically from 0.7 to 2.8 Hz, but the lower frequency varied non-monotonically, with a maximum of 1.0 Hz at 20 mK above the critical temperature. The measured frequencies agree with independently calculated frequencies to within 15%.