Analytical representations of the Mössbauer recoilless fraction, Debye-Waller factors, lattice energies, and heat capacities

Simple analytical expansions are given for the recoilless fraction in Mössbauer spectroscopy, the Debye-Waller factor in X-ray scattering, and the lattice energy and heat capacity of solids. While this problem has been discussed in an earlier paper [1], computer technology has now advanced to the point that direct evaluations of the simple expansions of these quantities are useful for quick curve fitting to experimental data at any desired temperature, and these expansions are easier to evaluate than using graphs to estimate recoilless fractions and Debye temperatures. We compare this approach with a polynomial expansion in terms of Bernoulli numbers, which has only a limited domain of convergence. We explicitly evaluate the convergence of these Debye integral expansions as a function of the number of terms used and the time required.