Homework Sheet No.

Issued 15 May 2017 and due 5 June 2017 (Please note: 6 problems on 2 pages)

1. (a) Show that the entropy per photon in blackbody radiation is independent of the

temperature, and in d spatial dimensions is given by s k (d 1)( n d 1 ) / ( n d ) .
n 1 n 1

(b) Show that the answer would have been k(d + 1) if the photons obeyed Boltzmann
statistics.
(see, K. Huangs book, p. 302, Problem 12.1. Note that in Huangs textbook, Boltzmann
constant k is assumed to be 1.)

2. (a) Show that the mean energy per photon in a blackbody radiation cavity is very nearly
2.7kT. (b) Calculate the photon number density, entropy density, and energy density of the
2.725 K cosmic microwave background.
(Textbook, p.226, Problem 7.21; p.227, Problem 7.24).

3. (a) Assuming the dispersion relation = Aks, where is the angular frequency and k the
wave number of a vibrational mode existing in a solid, show that the respective contribution
toward the specific heat of the solid at low temperatures is proportional to T3/s. [Note that
while s = 1 corresponds to the case of elastic waves in a lattice, s = 2 applies to spin waves
propagating in a ferromagnetic system.]
(b) Assuming the excitations to be phonons ( = Ak), show that their contribution toward the
specific heat of an n-dimensional Debye system is proportional to Tn.
(Textbook, p. 228, Problems 7.33 and 7.34).
l 1
PV
3
4. Deduce the virial expansion (7.1.13) al from equations (7.1.7)
NkT l 1 v

P 1 N N0 1
3 g5/2 ( z ) and (7.1.8) 3 g3/2 ( z ) , and verify the quoted values of the virial
kT V
coefficients. (Textbook, p. 223, Problem 7.2; K.Huangs book, p. 303, Problem 12.5).

5. (a) Consider an ideal Bose gas confined to a region of area A in two dimensions. Express
the number of particles in the excited states, Ne, and the number of particles in the ground
state, N0, in terms of z, T, and A, and show that the system does not exhibit Bose-Einstein
condensation unless T 0K. (b) Refine your argument to show that, if the area A and the
total number of particles N are held fixed and we require both Ne and N0 to be of order N,
 h2 1
then we do achieve condensation when T ~ where l[~(A/N)] is the mean
mkl 2 ln N
interparticle distance in the system. Of course, if both A and N, keeping l fixed, then the
desired T does go to zero.
(Textbook, p. 225-226, Problem 7.13; K. Huangs book, p. 303, Problem 12.6).

6. Consider an n-dimensional Bose gas whose single-particle energy spectrum is given by

ps , where s is some positive number. Discuss the onset of Bose-Einstein condensation in
this system, especially its dependence on the numbers n and s. Study the thermodynamic
behavior of this system and show that,
sU n n
P , CV (T ) Nk , and CP (T ) ( 1) Nk.
nV s s
(Textbook, p. 226, Problem 7.14).

7. At time t = 0, a collection of classical particles is in equilibrium at temperature T in

three-dimensional harmonic oscillator potential V (r) (1/ 2)m02 | r |2 . At t = 0, the

harmonic potential is abruptly removed. Use the momentum distribution at t = 0 to

determine the spatial density at time t > 0. Show that this is equivalent to the high
temperature limit of equation (7.2.15).
(Textbook, p. 226, Problem 7.16).