Influence of rotational motion of molecules on the thermal conductivity of solid SF₆, CHCl₃, C₆H₆, and CCl₄

The thermal conductivity of solid SF₆, CHCI₃, C₆H₆, and CCl₄ was investigated by the linear-flow method under saturated vapor pressures in the temperature range from 80 K to the corresponding melting temperatures and then recalculated for a constant density of the samples. The contributions of the phonon–phonon and phonon–rotation interactions to the total thermal resistance were separated using the modified method of reduced coordinates. It is shown that the phonon–rotation contribution to the thermal resistance of the crystals decreases as the rotational motion of the molecules attains more freedom

Isochoric thermal conductivity of solid nitrogen

The isochoric thermal conductivity of solid nitrogen has been investigated on four samples of different densities in the temperature interval from 20 K to the onset of melting. In alfa-N2 the isochoric thermal conductivity exhibits a dependence weaker than 1/T; in beta-N2 it increases slightly with temperature. The experimental results are discussed within a model in which the heat is transported by low-frequency phonons or by "diffusive" modes above the mobility boundary. The growth of the thermal conductivity in beta-N2 is attributed to the decreasing "rotational" component of the total thermal resistance, which occurs as the rotational correlations between the neighboring molecules become weaker.Comment: Postscript 12 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. To be published in 200

Transient thermal effects in solid noble gases as materials for the detection of Dark Matter

The transient phenomena produced in solid noble gases by the stopping of the recoils resulting from the elastic scattering processes of WIMPs from the galactic halo were modelled, as dependencies of the temperatures of lattice and electronic subsystems on the distance to the recoil's trajectory, and time from its passage. The peculiarities of these thermal transients produced in Ar, Kr and Xe were analysed for different initial temperatures and WIMP energies, and were correlated with the characteristics of the targets and with the energy loss of the recoils. The results were compared with the thermal spikes produced by the same WIMPs in Si and Ge. In the range of the energy of interest, up to tens of keV for the self-recoil, local phase transitions solid - liquid and even liquid - gas were found possible, and the threshold parameters were established.Comment: Minor corrections and updated references; accepted to JCA