THE UNIVERSAL DIELECTRIC RESPONSE AND ITS PHYSICAL SIGNIFICANCE

The dielectric response of virtually all solid dielectrics follows fractional power laws in frequency and in time and these call for a fresh appraisal of the physical significance of these law. The present paper gives a brief overview of the experimental situation in a wide range of systems and discusses a number of possible interpretations which depart radically from the traditional picture of independently relaxing entities. It suggests that a new consensus is appearing for the understanding of the underlying processes leading to the observed universality.