Low temperature heat capacity of amorphous systems: physics at nano-scales

TL;DR

This paper investigates the low-temperature heat capacity of amorphous nano-scale systems, revealing universal spectral features and linear specific heat behavior that align with experimental observations, suggesting broad applicability to disordered materials.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analysis of dispersion forces in amorphous nano-scale solids, uncovering universal spectral forms and specific heat behavior at very low temperatures.

Findings

Universal semi-circle form of density of states

Linear specific heat below 1 K at nano-scales

Agreement with experimental data at macroscopic scales

Abstract

Contrary to previous studies of boson peak, we analyze the density of states and specific heat contribution of dispersion forces in an amorphous solid of nano-scales ($\sim 3 nm$). Our analysis indicates a universal semi-circle form of the average density of states in the bulk of the spectrum along with a super-exponentially increasing behavior in its edge. The latter in turn leads to a specific heat, behaving linearly below $T < 1^o \; {\bf K}$ even at nano-scales, and, surprisingly agreeing with the experiments although the latter are carried out at macroscopic scales. The omnipresence of dispersion forces at microscopic scales indicates the application of our results to other disordered materials too.