Assignment D

1. (a) Read chapter 23 of Aschrof-Mermin and derive the expression of the density of the normal modes
as 
 3 ω2 , ω < ω = k c;
2 3 D D
gD (ω) = 2π c (1)
 0 , ω > ωD .

Show that the above expression in the Debye approximation gives the exact (within the harmonic
approximation) leading to low frequency behaviour of g(ω), provided that the velocity c is considered
as the given by the following expression
Z
1 1 X dΩ 1
= . (2)
c3 3 s 4π cs (k)3

(b) show that in a d-dimesional harmonic crystal, the low-frequency density of normal modes varies as
ω d−1 .
(c) Deduce from this that the low-temperature specific heat of a harmonic crystal vanishes as T d in d
dimensions.

2. (a) In a linear harmonic chain with only nearest-neighbor interactions, the normal-mode dispersion
relation has the form ω(k) = ω0 |sin(ka/2)|, where the constant ω0 is the maximum frequency (assumed
when k is on the zone boundary). Show that the density of normal modes in this case is given by
2
g(ω) = p . (3)
πa ω02 − ω 2

The singularity at ω = ω0 is a van Hove singularity. (b) In three dimensions the van Hove singularities
are infinities not in the normal mode density itself, but in its derivative. Show that the normal modes
in the neighbourhood of a maximum of ω(k), for example, lead to a term in the normal-mode density
that varies as (ω0 − ω)1/2 .