Available experimental data of the Debye temperature (Theta(D)) and of the coefficient of the low-temperature electronic heat capacity (gamma) of the condensed elements are analyzed in a rather heuristic way. Since the two associated heat capacities exhibit the same universal temperature dependence in all solids (similar to T-3 and similar to T, respectively), they have to be identified as the heat capacities of boson fields. In the elastic case the bosons are the well-known sound waves. Neither the dispersion relation nor the sources of the bosons of the metallic continuum are known. The bosons interact surprisingly strong with the corresponding atomistic degrees of freedom, i.e. phonons and electron-band states, and modify their dispersion relations strongly. The actual values of Theta(D) and gamma therefore depend considerably on the interaction strength to these atomistic excitations. The experimental indications will be discussed that this interaction is according to discrete modes and appears to be quantized.
Boson fields in solidsCritical behaviorUniversalityCritical amplitudesINELASTIC NEUTRON-SCATTERINGPHONON-DISPERSION-RELATIONSCRYSTAL DYNAMICSLATTICE-DYNAMICSDEBYE BOSONS
NSTL
Elsevier
