Acerca del estatuto ontológico de los fonones

Abstract

Usually, a solid is conceived as a network of atoms that can vibrate around its equilibrium position generating propagating waves. However, the fact that the energy of these waves is quantized suggests an analogy with the electromagnetic field; then, the quantum “particle” called phonon is defined. In this work we study the relation between the description levels of phonons and of atoms as a case of intra-theoretical relationship.