Possible Dimensional Effect on the Heat Capacity of Molecular Solids

Abstract

A contribution to the heat capacity that is linear in $T$ has been measured for solid argon and for two solid isotopic methanes in the region $0.25<T<\mathrm{}4\mathrm{}$ K. The effect is observed because of exceptional circumstances where a small specimen is contained in a relatively large calorimeter vessel. It is suggested that the same effect may account for some unexplained observations on solid ${}_{}{}^3{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{He}$ and solid ${}_{}{}^4{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{He}$.