Past exam of the quantum condensed matter course of the University of Cambridge / 2008 / Section A / A3 / d / Solution

The creep compliance is the strain per unit step stress: if $\sigma (t)={\sigma }_{0}H(t)$, then $\gamma (t)={\sigma }_{0}J(t)$ for $t>0$. A Newtonian fluid obeys $\sigma =\eta \dot{\gamma }$, so under constant stress its initially zero strain grows as $\gamma ={\sigma }_{0}t/\eta$. Therefore