76 9.

The Ideal Fermi Gas

and note that

Z
Ld F
1 d
1
N= Cd a d:
(2 )d 0 acd=a

9. Consider again the gas of N ultrarelativistic free electrons,

within a container of volume V , at temperature T , in the pres-
ence of a magnetic …eld H.~ If we neglect the e¤ects of orbital
magnetism, the energy spectrum is given by

p
~; = cp BH ;

where B is the Bohr magneton and = 1.

(a) Show that the Fermi energy of this system may be written
as
2 4
F = A + BH + O H :
Obtain expressions for the prefactors A and B.
(b) Show that the magnetization in the ground state can be
written in the form

M = CH + O H 3 :

Obtain an expression for the constant C.

(c) Calculate the susceptibility of the ground state in zero
…eld.
*** The grand partition functions may be written as

ln = ln + + ln ;

with X
ln = ln f1 + z exp [ (c~k B H)]g :
!
k

We then write
@
N =z ln = N+ + N ;
@z
 9. The Ideal Fermi Gas 77

with
3 Z1
V 1 2
N = 2 f ( )d ;
2 ~c
0

where
1
f ( )= :
exp [ ( BH ) + 1]
As the Fermi energy is the chemical potential at zero tempera-
ture, we have
3 Z BH
Z F + BH
V 1 F
2 2
N= 2 d + d ;
2 ~c 0 0

from which we obtain

2 N
3
F +3 F ( B H) =3 2
(~c)3 :
V
For BH << F (H = 0), we have
1=3 2
2 1=3 N B
F = 3 ~c H2 + O H4 :
V 2 )5=3 N 1=3
3 (3 ~c V

The magnetization is given by

M= B (N+ N );

which leads to
2
3 BN
M= H + O H3 ;
2 )1=3 N 1=3
(3 ~c V

so that we have the zero-…eld susceptibility

2
1 @M 3 B
0 = = :
N @H N 1=3
H=0 (3 2 )1=3 ~c V