Document Europhys. Lett, 33 (8), pp. 617-622 (1996)
Specific-heat anomaly of amorphous solids at intermediate temperatures (1 to 30 K)
X. Liu and H. v. Löhneysen
Physikalisches Institut der Universität Karlsruhe - D-76128 Karlsruhe, Germany
(received 13 November 1995; accepted in final form 24 January 1996)
PACS. 65.40-f - Heat capacity of solids.
PACS. 63.20Pw - Localized modes.
Abstract:
An analysis of the specific heat C of various amorphous solids at intermediate temperatures (1 K
K)
shows that the two parameters characterizing the
maximum in 
vs. T , namely its height 
and position
, are related to each other as
. Surprisingly, this relation is
valid not only for all the amorphous solids whose
intermediate-T specific heat can be found in the literature,
but also for many of the corresponding crystalline solids.
This suggests a general
correlation between the mechanisms leading to the 
maximum
in amorphous and crystalline solids. The established relation, together
with the scaling property found earlier, contributes towards
a unified understanding of the low- and
intermediate-T properties of amorphous solids.
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