Phonon dispersion and heat capacity of scandium

Phonon dispersion curves of the hexagonal close-packed metal scandium are determined at 295 K by inelastic neutron scattering along three crystallographic directions. We analyze the data by means of an axially symmetric Born--von K\'arm\'an force model with interactions up to the eighth-nearest neighbors and obtain good agreement between the measured and calculated normal-mode frequencies. Our set of force constants serves as a basis to calculate the phonon density of states from which the lattice specific heat and the Debye temperature are finally computed. Their values compare well with results from other work. In particular, we can confirm the temperature dependence of the coefficient of the electronic specific heat as predicted by theory.