Specific heat due to amorphous surface in solid

Department of Physics, Nagoya University, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8602, Japan

Received: 23 November 1998
Accepted: 4 March 1999

Abstract

We have observed an excess specific heat in bcc solid ³He at low temperatures and at pressures between the melting pressure and 46 bar. The excess specific heat is nearly independent of temperature. In the solid just above the melting pressure, the magnitude of the anomaly is about 2.5 times larger than that at high pressures. Except for the solid near the melting pressure, the magnitude is constant with pressure and is nearly the same as that in liquid ³He in Vycor. This anomaly of the specific heat in solid ³He is explained in terms of the amorphous surface solid on a disordered substrate.