Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-condensed-matter-physics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2015/1/b/solution
Past exam of the condensed matter physics course of the University of Oxford 2015 1 b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Pauli exclusion principle prevents most filled electronic states from changing occupation at . Only a shell of width of order around the Fermi energy participates. Since the density of states near that energy is of order per volume and energy, the fraction of active electrons is of order . Their typical change of energy is of order , so the thermal energy increment per volume scales asDifferentiating with respect to temperature gives the electronic heat capacityThe simple shell argument fixes the linear law, not its coefficient. A Sommerfeld expansion using the spin-summed free-electron density of states gives , hence , consistent with the supplied value. The result excludes strong band-structure or interaction corrections and requires a degenerate electron population.
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