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Past exam of the quantum condensed matter course of the University of Cambridge 2008 Section B B4 Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
Only states within an energy window of order around the Fermi energy can change occupation in a degenerate metal. A Sommerfeld expansion gives electronic energy above its zero-temperature value proportional to , hence . Three-dimensional linear-dispersion acoustic phonons have density of states proportional to ; integrating their Bose occupations gives thermal energy proportional to and the Debye heat capacity . Thus at sufficiently low temperature in the normal state.
Reading the straight low-temperature fit gives approximately and . These estimates agree with the reported fit to this material in the original experiment.[ref]
Superconductivity in the Filled Cage Compounds Ba6Ge25 and Ba4Na2Ge25 by Friedrich Malte Grosche and others. Figure 3 caption: low-temperature normal-state coefficients for Ba4Na2Ge25
Treating the graph values as approximate, the molar density of states isThe stipulated two electrons per formula unit give . For a single spin-degenerate parabolic band, the molar density of states is . HenceThese are model-dependent effective parameters inferred from the measured heat capacity and assumed carrier count, rather than an independent determination of a unique band structure.Using the Debye prefactor stated in the question givesThis prefactor counts three effective modes per formula unit. Consistently choosing the same count for the Debye wavevector gives . The corresponding average sound speed isThere is a normalization choice here: a formula unit has 31 atoms. With the conventional full atomic-mode count, the molar Debye coefficient contains an additional factor 31, and both and increase by . That convention gives and , while leaving the inferred sound speed unchanged. The mode count in the Debye model must be used consistently; mixing the printed temperature with an atomic-count wavevector gives an erroneous sound speed.
The upward curvature above about indicates low-energy vibrations missing from a pure acoustic model. In this cage compound, the original analysis fits an additional localized mode with , assigned to a rattling mode of a barium guest atom.[ref]
Superconductivity in the Filled Cage Compounds Ba6Ge25 and Ba4Na2Ge25 by Friedrich Malte Grosche and others. Page 247003-3 and Figure 3: extra Einstein-mode contribution
At temperatures high compared with all relevant phonon energies, the full lattice approaches the Dulong-Petit law, . The reduced three-mode model alone approaches and omits the other branches. An approximately linear electronic term can still be added while the carriers remain degenerate, but cannot be extrapolated beyond their Fermi temperature. Pinned article: Introduction to the OurBigBook Project
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