Long-range quasistatic gauge-boson interactions lead to anomalous (non-Fermi-liquid) behavior of the specific heat in the low-temperature limit of an electron or quark gas with a leading $T\ln T^{-1}$ term. We obtain perturbative results beyond the leading log approximation and find that dynamical screening gives rise to a low-temperature series involving also anomalous fractional powers $T^{\mathrm{}(3+2n)/3\mathrm{}}.$ We determine their coefficients in perturbation theory up to and including order $T^{7/3}$ and compare with exact numerical results obtained in the large-$N_f$ limit of QED and QCD.

• Received 9 September 2003

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.69.011901