Heat Capacity of a Fermi Gas at Low Temperature

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around the heat capacity of a Fermi gas at low temperatures, focusing on the derivation of internal energy and its relation to temperature. The participants are exploring the mathematical formulation and integration limits involved in the calculations.

Discussion Character

  • Mathematical reasoning, Problem interpretation

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • The original poster attempts to derive the internal energy expression and its dependence on temperature, questioning the correctness of their setup. Subsequent posts involve substitutions and transformations in the integral, with participants verifying each other's calculations and discussing integration limits.

Discussion Status

The discussion is ongoing, with participants providing feedback on each other's mathematical steps. There is a focus on ensuring the calculations are correct and clarifying the limits of integration, indicating a collaborative effort to refine the approach.

Contextual Notes

Participants are working under the constraints of a homework problem, which may impose specific methods or formats for their calculations. The discussion includes assumptions about the density of states and the behavior of the Fermi gas at low temperatures.

Diracobama2181
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Homework Statement
Suppose that instead of photons, blackbody radiation were composed
of a single species of neutrinos. The neutrino is a spin-1/2 particle
like an electron, with zero electric charge. Without worrying about
the details of the reactions that neutrinos undergo, suppose that they
can be freely created and destroyed such that they maintain thermal
equilibrium with the walls of a cavity. Treat the neutrinos as a grand
canonical ensemble of free particles of mass m, with chemical potential
µ = −mc2.

a)
Show that the heat capacity per unit volume reduces to the following form at low temperature, where the neutrinos are nonrelativistic and fermion quantum statistics reduce to classical Boltzmann statistics.
$$c_v =\frac{1}{V} \frac{dU}{dT}=\frac{4k_B}{λ^3}e^{βµ} [(βµ)^2-\frac{3}{2}βµ]$$
where
$$λ =(\frac{h^2β}{2πm})^{\frac{1}{2}}$$
Relevant Equations
$$<n_i>=\frac{1}{e^{β(\epsilon-µ)}+1}$$
I find that $$U=\int Z \epsilon D(\epsilon) e^{-\epsilon β}d\epsilon=\frac{gV}{(2\pi)^3}\int Z \frac{(\hbar)^2k^2}{2m}k^2 (4\pi)e^{-β\frac{(\hbar)^2k^2}{2m}}dk$$
where g=2s+1=2, $$Z=e^{βµ}$$ and $$D(\epsilon)=\frac{gV}{(2\pi)^3}k^2 4\pi$$ for the density of states

From here, I can use
$$c_v =\frac{1}{V} \frac{dU}{dT}$$. My question is whether I set this up correctly?

Thank you.
 
Last edited:
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Taking this further, I substitute $$x=\sqrt{\frac{\hbar^2}{2mk_bT}}$$ and get that $$U=\int Z \epsilon D(\epsilon) e^{-\epsilon β}d\epsilon=\frac{gV4\pi}{(2\pi)^3}\int Z \frac{(\hbar)^2}{2m}\sqrt{\frac{\hbar^2}{2mk_bT}}^{\frac{5}{2}}x^4 e^{-x^2}dx=\frac{gV4\pi}{(2\pi)^3}Z \frac{(\hbar)^2}{2m}\sqrt{\frac{\hbar^2}{2mk_bT}}^{\frac{5}{2}}\frac{3\sqrt{\pi}}{8}$$. Is this fine so far?
 
Diracobama2181 said:
Taking this further, I substitute $$x=\sqrt{\frac{\hbar^2}{2mk_bT}}$$ and get that $$U=\int Z \epsilon D(\epsilon) e^{-\epsilon β}d\epsilon=\frac{gV4\pi}{(2\pi)^3}\int Z \frac{(\hbar)^2}{2m}\sqrt{\frac{\hbar^2}{2mk_bT}}^{\frac{5}{2}}x^4 e^{-x^2}dx=\frac{gV4\pi}{(2\pi)^3}Z \frac{(\hbar)^2}{2m}\sqrt{\frac{\hbar^2}{2mk_bT}}^{\frac{5}{2}}\frac{3\sqrt{\pi}}{8}$$. Is this fine so far?
Looks fine to me if calculations are done correctly!
 
Thank you. Just one more question. Would the limits of integration just be from 0 to $$\infty$$?
 
Diracobama2181 said:
Thank you. Just one more question. Would the limits of integration just be from 0 to $$\infty$$?
Yes
 

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