Specific-heat anomaly of amorphous solids at intermediate temperatures (1 to 30 K)

An analysis of the specific heat C of various amorphous solids at intermediate temperatures (1 K ⩽ T ⩽ 30 K) shows that the two parameters characterizing the maximum in C / T 3 vs. T , namely its height P c and position T max , are related to each other as P c ∝ T max −1.6 . 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 C / T 3 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.