Phys 140B

HW 05

1. Consider a -dimensional Bose gas with the single-particle energy spectrum () = ,

> 0. Rederive (or copy from HW 01) the power law () = for the single-particle density
of states of such a gas. Show that Bose-Einstein condensation exists only if > 0. Check
whether this condition is satisfied for = 2 and = 1,2,3.
2. Show that the activity of an ideal Bose gas behaves as 1 ( )2 when
approaches from above. (Consider only the usual case: three spatial dimensions, parabolic
spectrum, that is, = 3, = 2.) This implies that both the chemical potential = ln and its
derivative are continuous across the condensation point; however, the second derivative has a
step-like discontinuity.
Hint: Use the formula () () + (1 )(1 )1 , which is valid for 1 1, and
the formula for the derivative: () = 1 1 ().
3. Find the ratio of the entropy to the number of excited particles in a Bose gas below .
4. Consider a gravitationally self-bound star made of a Bose-Einstein condensate. Neglecting
numerical constants of order unity, use the variational principle for the total energy (kinetic
plus gravitational) and determine the upper limit for the mass of such a star. Hints: 1) near the
collapse point the bosons are ultrarelativistic, () 2) the smallest possible momentum
of a particle inside a star of radius is /.
5. The Sun may be regarded as a black-body source of surface temperature O = 5800 K . Its
diameter is O = 1.4 1011 cm, its distance from the Earth is = 1.5 1013 cm. StefanBoltzmann constant is = 5.67 105 erg s1 cm2 K4 .
a) What is the total energy flux (in erg cm2 s1) of sunlight incident on a region of Earths
surface normal to the rays of the Sun?
b) What pressure is exerted by sunlight if this surface region is perfectly absorbing?
c) Consider a spacecraft made of an ideal absorber of sunlight and shaped as a flat disk.
The spacecraft follows the same orbit as the Earth and faces the Sun at all times. What
equilibrium temperature would it ultimately attain? Hint: dont be confused, this
temperature is certainly much smaller than O .
6. Precise measurements reveal a slight anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background
radiation (CMBR). The CMBRs is more accurately described as a black-body spectrum with the
direction-dependent temperature = 0 + cos , where 0 = 2.7 K, = 3.2 mK,
and is the angle measured from the direction along which is maximum. Assuming this
anisotropy is due to the Doppler effect, calculate the speed of Earth relative to the rest frame
of the CMBR.