Interaction of second sound with acoustic waves in solids

An expression has been derived for the collision operator for phonons in a solid, which is valid at very low temperatures. The set of coupled equations for the elastic deformation and the phonon density or second sound has been reduced to a simple tractable form and the dispersion equation for the coupled waves consisting of the acoustic modes and second sound has been derived. It is shown that only the longitudinal mode interacts with the second sound. It is also shown that as a result of the interaction with the second sound, the longitudinal velocity along the principal axis acquires a correction term that is proportional to bothγ ² andT ⁴. The author felicitates Prof. D S Kothari on his eightieth birthday and dedicates this paper to him on this occasion.