Advanced Solid State Physics - Student Project SS 2013

Sommerfeld expansion
Use the Sommerfeld expansion to calculate the temperature
dependence of the chemical potential/internal energy in one/two/
three dimensions at low temperature.
Evaluation of integrals of the form
Z ∞
1
H()f (, T )d with f (, T ) = −µ
−∞ e kB T
+1
can be done approximately with the Sommerfeld expansion

π2
Z ∞ Z µ
H()
−µ d = H()d + (kB T )2 H 0 (µ) + O([kB T ]4 ) + ... (1)
−∞ e kB T
+1 −∞ 6

Here H 0 (µ) denotes the derivative of H() with respect to  evaluated at  = µ. For low
temperatures the underlying series is remarkably convergent so that terms higher then
second order can often be neglected. Furthermore it is convenient to set the lower limit
of integration to  = 0 since the lowest energy state can be defined to be zero.
To calculate certain properties such as the internal energy for a free electron gas we
further need the density of states in the given dimension (see table 1).

Table 1: Density of states and Fermi energy for free electrons in one, two and three dimensions
(can be found here1 ).
1D 2D 3D
n n 3n √
Density of states D(E) = √ D(E) = D(E) = 3/2
E
2 EF E EF 2EF
π 2 h̄2 n2 πh̄2 n h̄2 2
Fermi energy EF EF = EF = EF = (3π 2 n) 3
8m m 2m

Temperature dependence of the chemical potential

The electron density is defined as

Z ∞ Z EF
n= D(E)f (E, T )dE resp. n= D(E)dE. (2)
−∞ E=0

1
http://lamp.tu-graz.ac.at/~hadley/ss1/fermigas/electrontable/electrontable.html

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Advanced Solid State Physics - Student Project SS 2013

Using the Sommerfeld expansion with H(E) = D(E) and omitting the terms O([kB T ]4 )
then gives
π2
Z µ
2 dD(E)
 
n= D(E)dE + (kB T ) (3)
0 6 dE E=µ

At low temperatures the chemical potential µ approaches the Fermi energy EF with only
small deviation. As the chemical potential is a function of T 2 , the integral in equation
(3) can be approximated by
Z µ Z EF
H(E)dE ' H(E)dE + (µ − EF )H(EF ). (4)
0 0

For the chemical potential µ in the last term of eq. (3) the Fermi energy EF can be used
in good approximation (the other terms would be already of order O([kB T ]4 )) which
then results in the following expression:
Sommerfeld expansion

π2
Z ∞ Z EF
(kB T )2 H 0 (E)E=EF (5)

H(E)f (E, T )dE ' H(E)dE +(µ−EF )H(EF )+
0 0 6
Now the expressions for the chemical potential in one, two and three dimensions are
derived:
1D
Z ∞
n
n= √ f (E, T )dE
0 2 EF E
  
π2
Z EF
n  1 
2
n= D(E)dE + √ (µ − EF ) √ − (kB T ) 
12E 3/2

E=0 2 EF E F 
E=E
| {z } F
=n
µ − EF π2
= (kB T )2
EF 12EF2
π2
µ = EF + (kB T )2 (6)
12EF

2D
Z ∞
n
n= √ f (E, T )dE
0 EF
Z EF
n
n= D(E)dE +(µ − EF ) √
| E=0 {z }
EF
=n
µ = EF (7)

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Advanced Solid State Physics - Student Project SS 2013

3D

3n √
Z ∞
n= 3/2
Ef (E, T )dE
0 2EF
  
π2
Z EF
3n 
D(E)dE + 3/2 (µ − EF ) EF + √ (kB T )2 
p
n=
 
| E=0
{z } 2EF
12 E 
E=EF
=n
µ − EF π2
= (kB T )2
EF2 12EF2
π2
µ = EF − (kB T )2 (8)
12EF

Temperature dependence of the internal energy

The internal energy is defined as

Z
u= ED(E)f (E, T )dE. (9)

Using the Sommerfeld expansion in the form eq. (5) with H(E) = ED(E) and plugging
in the density of states and the chemical potential gives:
1D
Z ∞
n
u= E √ f (E, T )dE =
0 2 EF E
  
Z EF √
n  EF π2 
= √ EdE + (µ − EF ) √ + √ (kB T )2  =

2 EF E=0 EF 12 E 
E=EF
!
n EF
3/2  π2 EF π2
= √ E  + (kB T )2 √ + √ (kB T )2 =
2 EF 0 12EF EF 12 EF
nEF nπ 2
= + (kB T )2 (10)
3 12EF

2D

EF π2
Z ∞ 
n n n 
u= E f (E, T )dE = E 2  + (µ − EF ) n + (kB T )2  =
0 EF 2EF 0 | {z } 6 EF E=E
=0 F

nEF nπ 2
= + (kB T )2 (11)
2 6EF

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Advanced Solid State Physics - Student Project SS 2013

3D

3n √
Z ∞
u= E 3/2
Ef (E, T )dE
0 2EF
 
 EF
2E 5/2  π2 3 √ 

3n  3/2
= + (µ − EF )EF + (kB T )2 E =

3/2

2EF 5 
0
6 2 E=EF
!
3 3n π2 2 3/2 π2 2
p
= nEF + 3/2
− (k B T ) EF + (kB T ) EF
5 2EF 12EF 4
3 nπ 2
= nEF + (kB T )2 (12)
5 4EF

Bulk modulus, pressure, entropy, specific heat

Using the expression for the internal energy many other properties can be calculated
easily. Table 2 gives an overview about their dependency on the internal energy.

Table 2: Expressions for the specific heat, entropy, Helmholtz free energy, pressure and bulk
modulus as a function of the internal energy.

∂u
 
Specific heat cV =
∂T V =const.

CV
Z
Entropy s= dT
T
Helmholtz free energy f = u − Ts

∂F 
Pressure P =−
∂V N,T
∂P
Bulk modulus B = −V
∂V