Observation of thermal remanence in a quadrupolar solid

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Abstract
We have measured the specific heat of solid hydrogen as a function of temperature and orthohydrogen concentration in the region of the fcc-hcp phase boundary, and have found a dependence of this quantity on thermal history. Samples isothermally converted from the fcc to the hcp phase showed a slow continuous change to molecular disorder, which is somewhat analogous to remanence in spin-glass field-cooling experiments. New Monte Carlo simulations indicate remanence can be caused by the hcp geometry and quadrupolar-site dilution, independently of the fcc-hcp structural change.