TY - JOUR
T1 - Amorphous materials at low temperatures
T2 - why are they so similar?
AU - Leggett, Anthony J.
N1 - Funding Information:
The above ideas were developed in collaboration with Dr. C.C. Yu, and I am grateful to her for many stimulating conversations. We enjoyed useful discussions with many colleagues at the University of Illinois and elsehwere, in particular Andy Anderson, Justin Freeman, Yaotian Fu, George Mozurkewich and Mike Weissman. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under grant number DMRSS-22688.
PY - 1991/2/2
Y1 - 1991/2/2
N2 - In addition to the well-known qualitative similarity of behavior of a wide range of amorphous materials, one dimensionless quantity, the reduced attenuation of transverse ultrasound, shows a quantitative universality whose explanation in terms of the standard "tunnelling two-level system" model would seem to require a totally unbelievable degree of chance coincidence. In addition, while the height of the "plateau" in the thermal conductivity is material-specific, the higher-temperature behavior is consistent with universal behavior. I sketch the outlines of a scenario which holds out hope of understanding these observations.
AB - In addition to the well-known qualitative similarity of behavior of a wide range of amorphous materials, one dimensionless quantity, the reduced attenuation of transverse ultrasound, shows a quantitative universality whose explanation in terms of the standard "tunnelling two-level system" model would seem to require a totally unbelievable degree of chance coincidence. In addition, while the height of the "plateau" in the thermal conductivity is material-specific, the higher-temperature behavior is consistent with universal behavior. I sketch the outlines of a scenario which holds out hope of understanding these observations.
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U2 - 10.1016/0921-4526(91)90246-B
DO - 10.1016/0921-4526(91)90246-B
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0026107002
SN - 0921-4526
VL - 169
SP - 322
EP - 327
JO - Physica B: Physics of Condensed Matter
JF - Physica B: Physics of Condensed Matter
IS - 1-4
ER -