Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-short-options-paper-shared-by-prelims-and-parts-a-and-b-of-the-physics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2018/s3/1/b/solution

Using the given one-component equipartition estimate, . Substituting into the de Broglie relation gives
Comparison with a confinement length or interparticle spacing gives the criterion . Numerical factors depend on the convention: the statistical thermal de Broglie wavelength is usually , while a three-component root-mean-square momentum introduces a factor . The question's specified one-component convention is used consistently here. Once degeneracy becomes important, classical equipartition itself ceases to describe the electrons accurately.

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