Temperature dependence of the spectrum of electrons levitating above solid hydrogen

A theory of photoresonance transitions for the electrons localized above the solid H₂ surface is proposed on the basis of the experimental data obtained by V. V. Zav’yalov and I. I. Smol’yaninov [Pis’ma Zh. Éksp. Teor. Fiz. 44, 142 (1986); Zh. Éksp. Teor. Fiz. 92, 339 (1987); Zh. Éksp. Teor. Fiz. 94, 307 (1988)] and a simple model of condensed hydrogen, H₂. A new explanation is offered for the strong dependence of the transition frequency v on the hydrogen vapor pressure revealed in the above-cited works. In contrast to the notions that were proposed by V. V. Zav’yalov and I. I. Smol’yaninov [Zh. Éksp. Teor. Fiz. 92, 339 (1987); Zh. Éksp. Teor. Fiz. 94, 307 (1988)]; and V. B. Shikin and S. N. Nazin [Pis’ma Zh. Éksp. Teor. Fiz. 82, 752 (2005)] and based on the effects of the quantum refraction of electrons by hydrogen vapor atoms, the temperature dependence of the frequency ν = ν (T) is attributed here to the H₂ vapor inhomogeneity. The nonanalytic dependence of ν on the vapor density n _ν , ν(n _ν ) − ν(0) ~ n _ν ^γ ~ e^−Δ/T , γ ≅ 0.56 has been revealed from the experimental data. The activation energy Δ corresponds to the “incomplete evaporation” of solid hydrogen [see J. I. Frenkel, Z. Phys. 26, 37 (1924); Kinetic Theory of Liquids (Nauka, Leningrad, 1945; Clarendon, Oxford, 1946)]. The parameter Δ is lower than the energy of the “complete evaporation” of solid H₂ equal to 92.6 K.