8.

08 Problem Set # 1
Feb. 3, 2010 Due Feb. 10, 2010 Problems: 1. (10 pts.) (Problem 8.1 in K. Huangs book) A perfect crystal has N lattice sites and M interstitial locations. A energy is needed to remove an atom from a site and place it in an interstitial, when the number n of displaced atoms is much less than N and M . (a) How many ways are there to remove n atoms from N lattice sites? (b) How many ways are there to place n atoms on M interstitials? (c) Use the microcanonical ensemble to calculate the entropy S as a function of total energy E . Find the temperature T as a function of total energy E . (d) Show that average number n of displaced atoms at temperature T is given by n2 = e/kB T (N n)(M n) Obtain n for kB T and for kB T . (e) Use this model for defects in a solid. Let N = M and = 1eV. Find the concentration n/N of the defects for temperature T = 300K and T = 1000K. Solution:
(a) The number of ways to choose n atoms to remove from N sites is
N = Cn

N! n!(N n)!

(b) The number of ways to choose n interstitials out of M is

M Cn =

M! n!(M n)!

(c) The number of states at total energy E = n is the number of ways to choose n atoms from N sites and place them in M interstitials, that is
N M (n) = Cn Cn =

N !M ! n!(N n)!n!(M n)!

Using Stirling approximation ln N ! N ln N N when N 1, we obtain the entropy S (E ) = = = = kB ln (n) [ ] kB N ln N + M ln M 2n ln n (N n) ln(N n) (M n) ln(M n) [ M N n M n] N M ln + n ln + n ln kB N ln N n M n n n [ M N n M n NM ] N kB N ln M ln + n ln + n ln + n ln 2 N n M n N M n [ n n ] NM ) kB n ln 2 (N n) ln(1 ) (M n) ln(1 n N M

where Boltzmann constant kB = 1.3806503 1023 m2 kg s2 K1 . The temperature is dened through 1 S (kB ln (n)) kB ln (n) = = = T E (n) n which gives ln (n) (N n)(M n) = = ln kB T n n2

(d) The previous equation can be rewritten as n2 = e/kB T (N n)(M n) The low-temperature and high-temperature limits are { N M e/2kB T n NM
N +M

(kB T ) (kB T )

(e) The conditions satisfy the low-temperature limit: the defect concentration { 20 n e 2 109 (T = 300K ) /2kB T e 6 e 2.5 103 (T = 1000K ) N

2. (10 pts.) (Problem 8.4 in K. Huangs book) The unwinding of double-stranded DNA is like unzipping a zipper. The DNA has N links, each of them can be in one of two states: a closed state with energy 0 and an open state with energy . A link can be in the open state only when all the links to its left are open (see the gure below).

(a) Show that the partition function of the DNA chain has a form QN = 1 e(N +1)/kB T 1 e/kB T

(b) Find the average number of open links in kB T limit. Solution:

(a) The possible states are labeled by the number of open links n = 0, 1, 2, . . . , N . The state labeled by n has n open links and energy of En = n. The partition function is QN = (b) The average number of open links is n= 1 ln QN e (N + 1)e (N +1) E = = 1 e 1 e (N +1)
N n=0

en =

1 e (N +1) 1 e

The second term in Eq. (2) is negligible for large N . Therefore at low temperature 1, we have n e .

3. Heat capacity of a spin-1/2 in magnetic eld: (10 pts.) Consider a spin-1/2 in a magnetic eld B . The Sz = 1/2 state has an energy gB B/2, and the Sz = 1/2 state has an energy gB B/2. Assume the spin is in contact with a heat bath of temperature T . (a) Find the partition function Q and the free energy F of the spin-1/2 system. (b) Find the average energy E of the spin as a function of temperature T . (c) Find the heat capacity of the spin: C = E/T . Solution:
(a) The partition function is Q(T ) = eH = egB B/2 + egB B/2 .

where = 1/kB T . The free energy is F = kB T ln Q = kB T ln(egB B/2 + egB B/2 ) (b) The average energy E is E= (c) The heat capacity is C= 1 Q ln Q gB B gB B = = tan( ) Q 2 2kB T ( g B )2 E 1 B = kB 2 gB B T 2kB T ch ( 2k T )
B

4. (10 pts.) Consider a two dimensional ideal gas of N particles. The gas is conned within a square wall of size L. Assume that the mass of the particle is m and the temperature is T . (a) Find the free energy A of the gas. (b) Find the force F exerted on one side of the square wall by the gas. Solution:
(a) The partition function Z= where = 2
2 /mk T . B

L2N N!

N d2 p i
i=1

h2

p 2 i / 2m

L2N N ! 2 N

Using ln N ! N ln N N , we nd A = kB T ln Z = N kB T [ln(N 2 /L2 ) 1]

(b) The pressure is A = N kB T /L2 L2 In 2D the pressure is Force/Length. So the force is P = F = P L = N kB T /L

5. Cooling by adiabatic demagnetization: (10 pts.) (a) Consider N spin-1/2 spins in a magnetic eld B . Initially, the system has a temperature T . If we slowly reduce the magnetic eld to B/2, what becomes the temperature of the system? If we slowly reduce the magnetic eld to zero, what becomes the temperature of the system? (Hint: the entropy remains unchanged in the above adiabatic process.) 3

(b) Consider N spin-1/2 spins in a magnetic eld B . The spin system is in thermal contact with an ideal gas of N particles in a volume V . Initially, the two systems have a temperature T . Assume gB B kB T . If we slowly reduce the magnetic eld to zero, what becomes the temperature of the gas? Solution:
(a) At temperature T , magnetic eld B , using canonical ensemble statistics, we nd the partition function to be Q(T, N ) = e (S1 +S2 +...+SN )gB B
all states f or N particles

=
N

all states f or N particles

N i=1

eSi gB B

= =

eSi gB B )N

i=1 all states f or particle i

egB B/2 + egB B/2

The partition function can also be calculated by noting that the spins are non-interacting (the total energy is simply the sum of the energies of each spin). So the partition function of N spins is given by Q(T, N ) = [Q(T, 1)]N , where Q(1) = egB B/2 + egB B/2 is the partition function of one spin. Thus the free energy A = kB T ln Q(T, N ) = N kB T ln(egB B/2 + egB B/2 ) = N kB T ln(2 cosh x) where x =
gB B 2k B T ,

and entropy S= A N gB B = N kB ln(2 cosh x) tanh x T 2T

In an adiabatic process, entropy remains unchanged. We note from the above expression that the entropy only depends on B/T . Thus B/T remains unchanged in an adiabatic process, which gives Tnal = Bnal Tinitial Binitial

When magnetic eld reduces to B/2, temperature reduces to T /2. When magnetic eld reduces to zero, temperature also reduces to zero. In this way the system can be cooled by adiabatic demagnetization.
N gB B BB (b) For the spin system, we already got S = A tanh x, where x = g T = N kB ln(2 cosh x) 2T 2k B T . We nd that when gB B kB T , S 0 and when B = 0, S = N kB ln 2. Therefore the entropy dierence for the spin system is S = N kB ln 2.

Since the spin system and the ideal gas system form an isolated system, whose total entropy remains unchanged in an adiabatic process. SV = SV (Tf inal ) SV (T ) = N kB ln 2. Now let us calculate the entropy of the ideal gas system SV . Consider the ideal gas in volume V . The free energy [ ] AV = N kB T ln(n3 ) 1 , where = 2 2 . mkB T

And entropy AV SV = T where v=

V

( = N kB 1 V = . n N (5 2

5 v + ln 3 2

) ,

Now the condition SV = SV (Tf inal ) SV (T ) = N kB ln 2 we obtained above gives us N kB (5 2 + ln v 3 )

Tf inal

N kB

+ ln

v 3

)
T

= N kB ln 2 ( )2/3
1 2

After some algebra, the nal temperature of the ideal gas system is Tf inal =

T.