Past exam of the condensed matter physics course of the University of Oxford / 2015 / 1 / c

The Debye model treats the crystal as an isotropic elastic continuum with independent harmonic vibrational modes. There are three acoustic polarizations, approximated by linear dispersions and a common effective speed. A cutoff is chosen to retain $3N$ modes for $N$ atoms. The model neglects anharmonic interactions and the detailed high-wavevector dispersion. In a multi-atom primitive cell, optical branches require additional treatment; copper has one atom per primitive cell even though its conventional cubic cell contains four atoms.

A frequency interval contains, per volume,Each phonon mode has Bose-Einstein distribution occupation $(e^{\hslash \omega /(k_{B}T)}-1{)}^{-1}$. The fixed zero-point energy contributes no heat capacity. Its thermal energy density isFor $T\ll {\theta }_D$, extending the upper limit to infinity gives $u_{\mathrm{ph}}=(3{\pi }^4/5)n{k}_B{T}^4/{\theta }_D^3$. ThereforeThe cubic law reflects the three-dimensional acoustic mode density proportional to ${\omega }^2$. It is a low-temperature limit, not a valid extrapolation through the classical high-temperature regime.