Relaxation model of the orientational phase transition in fullerite C60

Abstract The model of thermal behavior of a thermoelastic medium is developed in the context of the Landau theory of phase transitions. In the framework of this model, two different problems are considered with allowance for order parameter relaxation: the problem of relatively slow uniform heating (cooling) of the medium under external hydrostatic pressure and the problem of order parameter relaxation at thermal isolation. A finite value of the relaxation constant τ of the order parameter is demonstrated to bring about the heating (cooling) rate dependence of the physical quantities, such as specific heat. The relaxation time of the order parameter is shown to be twice larger than the temperature relaxation time, as a consequence of the Landau expansion of the free energy.