Heat capacity of tantalum in the normal and superconducting states: Identification of the contributions

Abstract

Tantalum is used as an example to show that a statistical thermodynamic approach applied in the regions of the superconducting and normal states of the metal can estimate the reliable thermodynamic parameters that are related to the heat capacity of the metal (electronic heat capacity coefficient ζ, Debye temperature θD) and can estimate their errors statistically. The calculated heat capacity and the determined low-temperature values of the parameters agree satisfactorily with the data of self-consistent thermodynamic calculations performed in an extended temperature range. © 2013 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.