Past exam of the short options paper of the physics Prelims of the University of Oxford / 2019 / S3 / 1 / c / Solution

For $x=h\nu /(k_{B}T)\ll 1$, the Taylor expansion $e^x-1=x+O(x^2)$ gives the Rayleigh-Jeans law for equilibrium radiation,This is the classical limit: each electromagnetic mode has mean thermal energy approximately $k_{B}T$. Extending it to arbitrarily large frequencies would give a divergent integrated energy density, the ultraviolet catastrophe.

For $x\gg 1$, $e^x-1\simeq e^x$, giving the Wien approximationPlanck's quantum hypothesis assigns equally spaced mode energies $E_n=nh\nu$. When the spacing is small relative to $k_{B}T$, many levels are occupied and the classical approximation works. When $h\nu \gg k_{B}T$, exciting even one quantum is exponentially unlikely, suppressing the high-frequency tail. The single expression $⟨E⟩=h\nu /(e^x-1)$ contains both limits. Comparing temperature directly to $h\nu$ would be dimensionally incorrect; the low-temperature condition means $k_{B}T\ll h\nu$.