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Consider a gas of nidentical spin-0 bosons confined by an isotropic three-dimensional harmonic oscillator potential. (In the rubidium experiment discussed above, the confining potential was actually harmonic, though not isotropic.) The energy levels in this potential are ε=nhf, where nis any nonnegative integer and fis the classical oscillation frequency. The degeneracy of level nis(n+1)(n+2)/2.

(a) Find a formula for the density of states, g(ε), for an atom confined by this potential. (You may assume n>>1.)

(b) Find a formula for the condensation temperature of this system, in terms of the oscillation frequency f.

(c) This potential effectively confines particles inside a volume of roughly the cube of the oscillation amplitude. The oscillation amplitude, in turn, can be estimated by setting the particle's total energy (of order kT) equal to the potential energy of the "spring." Making these associations, and neglecting all factors of 2 and πand so on, show that your answer to part (b) is roughly equivalent to the formula derived in the text for the condensation temperature of bosons confined inside a box with rigid walls.

Short Answer

Expert verified

(a) Number of density states g(ε)=12ε2(hf)3.

(b) The condensation temperature for this system =hfkN1.20213

(c) The expression obtained was roughly equal to the condensate temperature of bosons confined inside a box with rigid walls.

Step by step solution

01

Step 1. Given information

Number of particles =

N=0g(ε)dεe(ε-μ)kT-1 (Equation-1)

Here,

g(ε)=density of states,

k= Boltzmann's constant,

T= temperature.

02

Step 2.  (a) To find the formula for density state

The energy levels in the 3-dimensional harmonic oscillator,

ε=nhf

Here,

nis any nonnegative integer and fis the classical oscillation frequency, and his the Planck's constant

n=εhf

The degeneracy level of n=

g(n)dn=12(n+1)(n+2)

Assuming n>>1g(n)dn=n·n2dn,

g(n)dn=n22dn

Differentiating the equation ε=nhfon both side

dε=dnhf

dn=dεhf'

Substituting the value of dn=dεhf'and n=ε/hfin the equation g(n)dn=n22dn,

g(ε)dε=12εhf2dεhf

=12ε2(hf)3dε

Thus, Number of density states,g(ε)=12ε2(hf)3

03

Step 3. To find the condensate temperature of the system we have N=∫0∞g(ε)dεe(ε-μ)kT-1 

Substituting the value of μ=0,N0=0,g(ε)=12ε2hf'3

N=012ε2(hf)3dεeεkT-1

Let ,x=εkTanddx=dεkT

N=012xkTc2(hf)3dxkTcex-1

=12kTChf30x2dxex-1

kTChf3=2N0x2dxex-1 (Equation-2)

As we know,

0x2ex-1dx=Γ(3)ζ(3)

=2!(1.202)

=2.404

Substituting the value of 0x2ex-1dx=2.404in Equation-2

kTChf3=2N2.404

TC=hfkN1.20213

Thus, the condensate temperature for this system=hfkN1.20213

04

Step 4. To find the condensation temperature of bosons confined inside a box with rigid walls

We have,

The expression for potential energy

Epot=CL22

kTC=CL22

Here,

C= spring constant

L= distance from the equilibrium position.

Angular frequency of system, ω=Cm

C=mω2

Substituting the value of C in equation kTC=CL22

kTc=mω2L22

kTCω2=mL22

ω2kTc=2mL2

Multiplying and dividing left side with h2,

2ω22kTC=2mL2

(hf)22kTc=2mL2

05

Step 5.  The condensate temperature is kTC=hfN1.20213

Applying square on both sides

kTC2=(hf)2N1.20223

kTC=(hf)2kTCN1.20223

=2(hf)22kTcN1.20223

Substituting the value of 2mL2=(hf)22kTC

kTc=22mL2N1.20223

=h2π22mL2N1.20223

Substituting V1/3=L

kTC=1πh22πmNV2311.20223

=0.318h22πmNV23

Therefore, the expression obtained was roughly equal to the condensate temperature of bosons confined inside a box with rigid walls.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

At the surface of the sun, the temperature is approximately 5800 K.

(a) How much energy is contained in the electromagnetic radiation filling a cubic meter of space at the sun's surface?

(b) Sketch the spectrum of this radiation as a function of photon energy. Mark the region of the spectrum that corresponds to visible wavelengths, between 400 nm and 700 nm.

(c) What fraction of the energy is in the visible portion of the spectrum? (Hint: Do the integral numerically.)

Repeat the previous problem, taking into account the two independent spin states of the electron. Now the system has two "occupied" states, one with the electron in each spin configuration. However, the chemical potential of the electron gas is also slightly different. Show that the ratio of probabilities is the same as before: The spin degeneracy cancels out of the saha equation.

Consider a system consisting of a single hydrogen atom/ion, which has two possible states: unoccupied (i.e., no electron present) and occupied (i.e., one electron present, in the ground state). Calculate the ratio of the probabilities of these two states, to obtain the Saha equation, already derived in Section 5.6 Treat the electrons as a monotonic ideal gas, for the purpose of determining μ. Neglect the fact that an electron has two independent spin states.

The results of the previous problem can be used to explain why the current temperature of the cosmic neutrino background (Problem 7.48) is 1.95 K rather than 2.73 K. Originally the temperatures of the photons and the neutrinos would have been equal, but as the universe expanded and cooled, the interactions of neutrinos with other particles soon became negligibly weak. Shortly thereafter, the temperature dropped to the point where kT/c2 was no longer much greater than the electron mass. As the electrons and positrons disappeared during the next few minutes, they "heated" the photon radiation but not the neutrino radiation.

(a) Imagine that the universe has some finite total volume V, but that V is increasing with time. Write down a formula for the total entropy of the electrons, positrons, and photons as a function of V and T, using the auxiliary functions u(T) and f(T) introduced in the previous problem. Argue that this total entropy would have ben conserved in the early universe, assuming that no other species of particles interacted with these.

(b) The entropy of the neutrino radiation would have been separately conserved during this time period, because the neutrinos were unable to interact with anything. Use this fact to show that the neutrino temperature Tv and the photon temperature T are related by

TTν32π445+u(T)+f(T)=constant

as the universe expands and cools. Evaluate the constant by assuming that T=Tv when the temperatures are very high.

(c) Calculate the ratio T/Tv, in the limit of low temperature, to confirm that the present neutrino temperature should be 1.95 K.

(d) Use a computer to plot the ratio T/Tv, as a function of T, for kT/mc2ranging from 0 to 3.*

Although the integrals (7.53and 7.54) forNand Ucannot be

carried out analytically for all T, it's not difficult to evaluate them numerically

using a computer. This calculation has little relevance for electrons in metals (for

which the limit kT<<EFis always sufficient), but it is needed for liquid H3eand

for astrophysical systems like the electrons at the center of the sun.

(a) As a warm-up exercise, evaluate theNintegral (7.53) for the casekT=εF

and μ=0, and check that your answer is consistent with the graph shown

above. (Hint: As always when solving a problem on a computer, it's best to

first put everything in terms of dimensionless variables. So let t=kTεFrole="math" localid="1649996205331" ,c=μεF

, and x=εkT. Rewrite everything in terms of these variables,

and then put it on the computer.)

(b) The next step is to varyμ holdingT fixed, until the integral works out to

the desired value,N. Do this for values of kTεFranging from 0.1 up to 2,

and plot the results to reproduce Figure7.16. (It's probably not a good idea

to try to use numerical methods when kTεF is much smaller than 0.1, since

you can start getting overflow errors from exponentiating large numbers.

But this is the region where we've already solved the problem analytically.)

(c) Plug your calculated values ofµ into the energy integral (7.54), and evaluate

that integral numerically to obtain the energy as a function of temperature

forkTup to 2εF Plot the results, and evaluate the slope to obtain the

heat capacity. Check that the heat capacity has the expected behavior at

both low and high temperatures.

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