Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-general-relativity-and-cosmology-and-condensed-matter-physics-paper-of-part-b-of-the-physics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2011/section-vi/5/unlettered-2/solution
Past exam of the general relativity and cosmology and condensed matter physics paper of Part B of the physics course of the University of Oxford 2011 Section VI 5 Unlettered 2 Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Write . The electron density is periodic with period one in each , so its three-dimensional Fourier series has integer harmonics:If is a primitive unit cell of volume , Fourier orthogonality givesConversely, translation by multiplies a general plane wave by . Periodicity permits only , precisely the reciprocal lattice vectors. For a physical bounded periodic electron density, the expansion exists in the usual square-integrable sense.
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