Heat capacity of pancake vortices in layered superconductors

The heat capacity of a lattice of pancake vortices in a layered superconductor with perpendicular magnetic field B is evaluated in the limit Hc1<B<Hc2. The coupled dynamical equations for small oscillations of the vortex lattice are solved for general values of the vortex mass mv, the Magnus force parameter α, and the viscosity ηs, where s is the interlayer separation, and the contribution of each normal mode is expressed as a Fourier integral involving the correlation functions of the fluctuating random forces. The total heat capacity per vortex is found numerically for various values of the dimensionless ratio α/ηs that characterizes the relative importance of the Magnus force and the viscous drag force. copyright 1996 The American Physical Society