Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-course-of-the-year-4-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2015/paper-1/section-b/b2/solution

Black-body radiation is the equilibrium electromagnetic radiation associated with a perfect absorber, whose spectrum is fixed by its temperature and the available modes. Photons can be emitted and absorbed, so their equilibrium chemical potential is zero. The model here retains two transverse polarizations in an effectively one-dimensional cavity; the resulting pressure is a one-dimensional mechanical force, not a three-dimensional pressure in pascals.

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