MODEL FOR LOW-TEMPERATURE AND INTERMEDIATE-TEMPERATURE PROPERTIES OF GLASSES

Glasses look largely alike below 50 K. Since their properties are universal, most theories have been grand in scope, applying to all materials equally. Below 1 K, this has been successful, but between 1 K and 50 K many striking features have escape convincing explanation. Inspired by the glassy crystal KBr:KCN, we have developed a model glass of interacting elastic dipoles. Numerical simulations and perturbation theory are used to calculate the specific heat, the thermal conductivity, and the dielectric loss. The universal features in KBr:KCN are explained using experimentally known constants. The thermal properties of vitreous silica can be fit to neutron scattering data. Thus, we are able to explain the universal properties in a particular system. We will attempt to connect our work to recent scaling approaches.