The Specific Heat of Hexagonal Metals at Very Low Temperatures

The specific heats of cadmium and magnesium have been measured in the temperature range 0.4° to 1.5°K. For cadmium the electronic specific heat coefficient γ is 163.6±2.6 μcal deg -2 (gat.) -1 , the Debye temperature θ is 204±3°K, and the superconducting transition temperature is 0.52±0.01°K. For magnesium γ is 292.7±2.5 μcal deg -2 (gat.) -1 . These results show that a previously reported discrepancy between the elastic and thermal values of θ for the hexagonal metals was due to incorrect interpretation of specific heat data.