Specific heats of actinide metals

After a brief discussion of the methods of extraction of the specific heat parameters, the electronic specific heat and the Debye temperature, an analysis is given of the trends in these, and in the measured specific heat, across the actinide series. The unexpected values obtained for protactinium are considered, with reference to the electrical resistivity. The importance of the expansion coefficient, both in the derivation of the specific heat parameters, and in any explanation of the electronic origins of their behaviour is discussed. Finally, the anomalies observed in α-U, Pu and Am are compared