Anomalous behavior of proton zero point motion in water confined in carbon nanotubes

The momentum distribution of the protons in ice Ih, ice VI, high density amorphous ice, and water in carbon nanotubes has been measured using deep inelastic neutron scattering. We find that at 5 K the kinetic energy of the protons is 35 meV less than that in ice Ih at the same temperature, and the high momentum tail of the distribution, characteristic of the molecular covalent bond, is not present. We observe a phase transition between 230 and 268 K to a phase that does resemble ice Ih. Although there is yet no model for water that explains the low temperature momentum distribution, our data reveal that the protons in the hydrogen bonds are coherently delocalized and that the low temperature phase is a qualitatively new phase of ice. © 2006 The American Physical Society.