Statistical Physics - PH 571 Fall 2024

Homework 7

Due date: 04/21/2024

Please send me your solutions per email. Do not use the solution manual. List explicitly any
sources or other input you used for your solution (books, lecture notes, conversations with other
students etc.)

1: Quantum gas in a harmonic trap

In this exercise, you study the fermionic ideal quantum gas in a three dimensional harmonic
potential. The corresponding classical system has been the subject of previous exercises.
The eigenenergies are

εk = ~ω(kx + ky + kz ) (1)

where k = (kx , ky , kz ) with ki = {0, 1, 2, . . . } labels states and the zero point energy was
omitted. The occupation number corresponding to the state k is denoted as nk .

(a) Consider the high-temperature, low-density limit z  1. Derive the grand canonical
partition function ZG for the system and compute the grand canonical potential. Show
that ΩG ∝ f4− (z), where fm−
(z) was defined in class.
(b) Calculate the particle number hN i and the internal energy E as a function of hN i. In
order to find E(hN i), introduce the parameter ρ = (~ωhN i1/3 /(kB T ))3 and relate it to
z using the high-temperature, low-density expansion of hN i up to O(z 2 ). Interpret the
condition ρ  1. Find U to second order in ρ (thereby expressing it through hN i).
(c) Compute the heat capacity CN . Plot CN and E as a function of T and compare
graphically to the classical limit.

2: Sommerfeld expansion, ideal Fermi gas

In class, we derived the following expressions for the particle density and energy density of
the ideal Fermi gas
Z
n = dεg(ε)f (ε), (2)
Z
ε = dεεg(ε)f (ε), (3)

where f (ε) is the Fermi distribution function with chemical potential µ and g(ε) is the
density of states.

(a) Find the density of states for the ideal Fermi gas in d = 1, d = 2 and d = 3 dimensions.

1
(b) As an application of the formalism developed in class one can derive the following
formula for the Sommerfeld expansion. Suppose that H(ε) is a smoothly function near
ε = µ and kB T  EF . Then,
Z ∞ Z µ
π2 2 0 7π 4
dεH(ε)f (ε) = dεH(ε) + (kB T ) H (µ) + (kB T )4 H 000 (µ) + . . . (4)
−∞ −∞ 6 360

Use this expression to find the low-temperature expansions for µ, n, the energy density
ε (each up to order T 2 ) and the specific heat (leading order in T ). Express your result
in terms of g(EF ) and g 0 (EF ), where appropriate. HINT: The first term in (4) can
Rµ R EF
conveniently be approximated as −∞ H(ε) ≈ −∞ H(ε) + (µ − EF )H(EF ). You can
check the validity of this expansion self-consistently after you found µ(T ).
(c) Find the specific heat for the ideal Fermi gas in d = 3 using the explicit expression for
g(ε) and compare to the result for a classical gas.