Quantum ideal-gas statistics

An ideal quantum gas has mean occupationwith one sign for bosons and the other for fermions.

The Fermi level is the chemical potential controlling electron occupations. For an ideal Fermi gas at zero temperature it equals the Fermi energy; at nonzero temperature the chemical potential need not equal that zero-temperature energy.

When $E-\mu \gg k_{B}T$, either quantum occupation law reduces to the classical factor

For particles of mass $m$ in a classical gas at temperature $T$, the normalized velocity density isIts Cartesian components are independent centered normal random variables of variance $k_{B}T/m$.

Integrating the Maxwell-Boltzmann velocity distribution over directions gives

The maximum of the Maxwell speed distribution occurs at

Doppler broadening is the spread of an observed spectral line caused by the distribution of emitter velocities along the line of sight.

If nonrelativistic emitters of mass $m$ have rest-frame angular frequency ${\omega }_0$, then the one-dimensional Maxwell-Boltzmann velocity distribution produces a Gaussian line with standard deviationMeasuring the line width therefore determines the gas temperature when nonthermal broadening is negligible or separately modeled.

The mean occupation of a bosonic one-particle state of energy $E$ is

The number and energy integrals of a zero-chemical-potential photon gas give $n=2\zeta (3)T^3/{\pi }^2$ and $\rho ={\pi }^2{T}^4/15$ in natural units. Their ratio is the mean energy per photon. It is useful for converting a relic number-density ratio into an energy-density ratio.

Bose-Einstein condensation is the macroscopic occupation of the lowest one-particle state by bosons below a critical temperature.

A Bose-Einstein condensate is a state with macroscopic occupation of a one-particle mode. A phase-selected mean-field description can use $⟨\psi ⟩\ne 0$, while a fixed-number finite-volume state need not have a nonzero field expectation. Bose-Einstein condensation and superfluidity are related but distinct notions; long-wavelength phase fluctuations can invalidate a uniform condensate saddle in low dimensions.

A dilute condensed Bose system whose interaction is sufficiently weak for a small-depletion expansion. Its low-energy excitations are described by a Bogoliubov transformation rather than free particles. The homogeneous quadratic theory is controlled only while noncondensate occupation remains small compared with the condensate and its excitation energies are stable.

In units $\hslash =1$, polar fields rewrite the coherent-state action asafter removing the periodic total density derivative. The potential has positive-density minimum ${\rho }_0=\mu /g$ for $\mu >0$. Density curvature gives a finite static amplitude cost, while phase changes cost only derivatives. Number-phase conjugacy couples their dynamics; the two fields do not automatically represent two independent excitation branches.

Expand the density-phase action of a Bose gas around ${\rho }_0=\mu /g>0$ and a constant phase. Density and phase are coupled by $i\delta \rho {\partial }_{\tau }\varphi$, and retaining density gradients gives the full quadratic Bogoliubov spectrum. Dropping those gradients is a long-wavelength approximation. A small-fluctuation Gaussian extension around ${\rho }_0$ does not exactly remove the original nonnegative-density constraint.

In the smooth zero-winding long-wave sector, integrate the density Gaussian integral by completing $g(\delta \rho +i{\partial }_{\tau }\varphi /g{)}^2/2$. Its field-independent normalization leaves the displayed action. The real-frequency pole is ${\omega }^2=g{\rho }_0{k}^2/m$, so the phonon speed is $\sqrt{g{\rho }_0/m}$. Keeping density gradients yields ${\omega }^2=g{\rho }_0{k}^2/m+k^4/(4m^2)$, matching the Bogoliubov spectrum.

A periodic complex field permits $\varphi (\beta ,\mathbf{r})-\varphi (0,\mathbf{r})=2\pi w(\mathbf{r})$. Its uniform-density first-order term is therefore a winding-dependent imaginary action, not generally a removable global constant. It vanishes in the smooth zero-winding sector used for Gaussian phonons. Density defects and vortices require more than that smooth-sector approximation.

Conservation of particle number corresponds to global circle group phase rotations of a nonrelativistic Bose field. A positive-density uniform mean-field saddle chooses a phase, with degenerate saddle manifold a circle. The associated Goldstone boson is the long-wavelength phase mode. This is a thermodynamic symmetry-selection statement; an exact finite-volume number eigenstate does not itself choose a phase.

The quasiparticle vacuum contains physical particles at nonzero momentum because the Bogoliubov transformation mixes creation and annihilation operators. Their occupation is $v_k^2=(A_k/E_k-1)/2$, and the depletion density is its momentum sum divided by the volume. At nonzero temperature an additional $(A_k/E_k)n_B(E_k)$ contribution is required; quantum depletion alone is a zero-temperature expression.

The stable quadratic spectrum is $E_k=\sqrt{{ϵ}_k({ϵ}_k+2n{V}_k)}$. If $V_k\to V_0>0$, its low-momentum form is $\hslash |k|\sqrt{n{V}_0/m}$, a linear sound branch. For contact repulsion the healing length separates the phonon and particle regimes. General momentum-dependent interactions can change the higher-energy shape.

At fixed total particle number, $N_0=N-{\sum }_{k\ne 0}{b}_k^{†}{b}_k$. Expanding the condensate interaction energy subtracts $n{V}_0$ from the normal excited-particle coefficient, cancelling its direct Hartree term. The resulting quadratic coefficients are $A_k={ϵ}_k+n{V}_k$ and $B_k=n{V}_k$, with an opposite-momentum anomalous pair term. Replacing $N_0$ by $N$ before making this correction loses the cancellation.

An exciton-polariton condensate has coherent macroscopic occupation of an exciton–photon hybrid mode. Finite photon lifetime makes it an open system: pumping a noncondensed reservoir can replenish condensate losses. A condensate equation coupled to a reservoir-rate equation describes gain saturation, interaction shifts and reservoir feedback; it need not possess a conserved Hamiltonian.

For the cubic complex Ginzburg–Landau equation with $\alpha ,\beta >0$, $\Psi =\sqrt{\alpha /\beta }{e}^{-i\mu t}$ is spatially uniform, with $\mu =g\alpha /\beta -s$. In the reservoir reduction of a polariton condensate, its pump threshold is $P_{\mathrm{th}}={\gamma }_C{\gamma }_R/R_R$ and its number density is $({\gamma }_R/R_R)(1-P_{\mathrm{th}}/P)$. The full two-field homogeneous model instead gives $(P-P_{\mathrm{th}})/{\gamma }_C$. These agree near threshold only to the expansion's accuracy. Existence of the homogeneous solution does not imply stability for arbitrary interaction coefficients.

For reservoir kinetics ${\mathcal{R}}_t=-({\gamma }_R+R_{R}n)\mathcal{R}+P$, adiabatic elimination gives $\mathcal{R}=P/({\gamma }_R+R_{R}n)$. Expanding for $R_{R}n/{\gamma }_R\ll 1$ and inserting into the condensate equation gives a complex Ginzburg–Landau equation withFast reservoir response and weak depletion are separate assumptions. Without the number density expansion the gain is saturable, not cubic. The coefficients depend on position when the pump does.

The Gross–Pitaevskii equation describes a dilute interacting condensate through a complex order parameter $\psi$, normalized so that $|\psi {|}^2$ is number density. Repulsive contact interactions have $g>0$. In a frame rotating at the condensate frequency, the operator includes $-\mu$, with chemical potential $\mu$. It is generated by a Hamiltonian functional; its homogeneous positive-density state has $n_0=\mu /g$ when $g,\mu >0$.

For $i{\psi }_t=-D{\nabla }^2\psi +[V(n)+i\Gamma (n)]\psi$, with real $D,V,\Gamma$ and $\psi =\sqrt{n}{e}^{iS}$, the continuity equation isMultiply the equation by ${\psi }^{\ast }$ and subtract its complex conjugate multiplied by $\psi$ to obtain this identity; real interaction and potential terms cancel. Thus the current velocity is $\mathbf{j}/n=2D\nabla S$. With dimensional kinetic operator $-{\hslash }^2{\nabla }^2/(2m)$ and left side $i\hslash {\psi }_t$, this gives the physical superfluid velocity $(\hslash /m)\nabla S$. In normalized equations with $D=1/2$ or $D=1$, the current velocity is respectively $\nabla S$ or $2\nabla S$. The distinction fixes the radial-flow slope of a driven quantum vortex.

Neglecting density-gradient kinetic energy in the stationary Gross–Pitaevskii equation gives $n=(\mu -V{)}_{+}/g$ for repulsive interactions. For a radial harmonic trap $V=m{\omega }_r^2{r}^2/2$, this is $n=n_0(1-r^2/R_r^2{)}_{+}$ with $R_r=\sqrt{2g{n}_0/(m{\omega }_r^2)}$. Hard boundaries can truncate this natural support. The approximation fails in vortex cores and boundary healing regions and requires a cloud much larger than its healing length.

For the normalized conservative equation $-2i{\psi }_t={\nabla }^2\psi +(1-|\psi {|}^2)\psi$, a localized disturbance translating at speed $v$ obeys ${\nabla }^2\psi +(1-|\psi {|}^2)\psi -2iv{\psi }_x=0$ in translating coordinates. Its complex-field boundary is $\psi \to 1$. This permits zero-net-winding vortex pairs, but excludes a lone quantum vortex. The usual subsonic far field has $\psi -1=O(r^{-1})$ in two dimensions.

With $E=\frac{1}{2}\int [|\nabla \psi {|}^2+\frac{1}{2}(1-|\psi {|}^2{)}^2]$ and the renormalized momentum of a condensate, a Gross–Pitaevskii solitary wave is a critical point of $E-v{p}_x$. Along a differentiable solution family, fixed bulk normalization and vanishing variation boundary terms give $dE/d\lambda =vd{p}_x/d\lambda$. Therefore $dE/d{p}_x=v$ wherever $d{p}_x/d\lambda \ne 0$. At a cusp or turning point the parametrized identity is the appropriate statement; one must not assume a globally single-valued dispersion branch.

For a condensate with uniform bulk complex field one, its convergent localized momentum isThe subtraction removes the uniform-background phase-gradient contribution. If $\psi -1=O(r^{-1})$ and $\nabla \psi =O(r^{-2})$, its integrand is $O(r^{-3})$, integrable in two dimensions. Under decaying variations its functional derivative is $\delta p_j/\delta {\psi }^{\ast }=-i{\partial }_j\psi$; the subtraction is a boundary correction and does not change the bulk equation.

The healing length of a repulsive homogeneous condensate is the length at which density-gradient kinetic energy and interaction energy balance. The displayed convention sets the dimensionless Laplacian coefficient to one in the stationary Gross–Pitaevskii equation. A hard-wall number density profile has width $\sqrt{2}{\ell }_h$; definitions without the factor $\sqrt{2}$ occur, so the equation and convention must be specified.

A repulsive condensate next to an impenetrable planar wall has Dirichlet boundary condition $\psi (0)=0$. Writing $\psi =\sqrt{n_0}f$ reduces its stationary Gross–Pitaevskii equation to ${\ell }_h^2{f}^{\prime \prime }+(1-f^2)f=0$. The bulk conditions $f\to 1,f^{\prime }\to 0$ give ${\ell }_h^2(f^{\prime }{)}^2=(1-f^2{)}^2/2$ and hence the displayed number density. Omitting $n_0$ describes normalized number density, not dimensional number density.

The critical temperature is the temperature at which the excited states of a Bose system are just saturated as the chemical potential approaches the lowest one-particle energy. Cooling below it puts the excess particles into the condensate.

A phonon is a bosonic quantum of a crystal's normal modes. Because phonon number is not conserved in thermal equilibrium, its chemical potential is zero.

A phonon dispersion relation gives its angular frequency $\omega$ as a function of its wavevector $k$. For an isotropic power law, $\omega =C|k{|}^{\alpha }$.

An acoustic phonon branch has $\omega (k)\to 0$ as $k\to 0$. Its long-wavelength group velocity is the speed of sound.

An optical phonon branch has a nonzero frequency as $k\to 0$, corresponding to relative motion of degrees of freedom within one primitive cell.

For equal masses $m$ separated by $a$ and alternating spring constants $\lambda$ and $\alpha \lambda$, the primitive-cell length is $2a$ and the two branches areThe minus and plus signs give the acoustic phonon branch and optical phonon branch, respectively.

For two polarizations in area $A$ and $\omega =C|k{|}^{\alpha }$, counting wavevector states in a disk gives

The Debye model replaces the crystal's vibrational spectrum by a continuum of phonon modes up to a cutoff chosen to preserve the total number of vibrational degrees of freedom.

The Debye frequency is the upper frequency cutoff fixed by equating the continuum mode count to the crystal's number of vibrational degrees of freedom.

The Debye temperature is $T_D=\hslash {\omega }_D/k_B$.

For two polarizations, $n$ atoms in area $A$, and $\omega =C|k{|}^{\alpha }$, mode counting givesAt low temperature its energy scales as $T^{1+2/\alpha }$ and its constant-volume heat capacity as $T^{2/\alpha }$.

The density of states $g(E)$ is defined so that $g(E)dE$ counts one-particle states with energies in an interval of width $dE$. A sum over closely spaced states then becomes an integral weighted by $g(E)$.

For a spin-degenerate band, the total density of states includes both spin species and is twice the single-spin density of states. Per lattice site, $\nu (ϵ)=2N^{-1}{\sum }_k\delta (ϵ-{ϵ}_k)$. Using a separate explicit spin sum then requires a compensating factor one half when converting momentum sums. The normalization matters in the Stoner criterion.

The single-spin density of states counts momentum states for one spin species. For degenerate up and down species, the spin-summed density of states is twice this value. Specify separately whether the density is per unit volume or extensive. In the BCS gap equation, the momentum sum labels opposite-spin pairs once and therefore uses the single-spin density per volume when the interaction has normalization $V/\mathcal{V}$.

The mean occupation of a fermionic one-particle state of energy $E$ isAt zero temperature this becomes the step function $1_{E<E_F}$.

Thermal electron-positron pairs in chemical equilibrium with photons have opposite chemical potentials when the one-particle energy includes rest energy. For negligible degeneracy and $k_{B}T\ll m_e{c}^2$, the zero-chemical-potential density per charge species is $n_0=2[m_e{k}_{B}T/(2\pi {\hslash }^2){]}^{3/2}{e}^{-m_e{c}^2/(k_{B}T)}$. In that nondegenerate limit, charge neutrality and the classical equilibrium product $n_{-}{n}_{+}=n_0^2$ give $n_{+}=(\sqrt{n_b^2+4n_0^2}-n_b)/2$, with net Electron density $n_b$. Pairs are important when $n_0\gtrsim n_b$. At arbitrary temperature the zero-chemical-potential marker uses the integral $n_0=({\pi }^2{\hslash }^3{)}^{-1}{\int }_0^{\infty }{p}^2[\exp (\sqrt{m_e^2{c}^4+p^2{c}^2}/k_{B}T)+1{]}^{-1}dp$. Its ultrarelativistic limit is $3\zeta (3)(k_{B}T/\hslash c{)}^3/(2{\pi }^2)$. A nonzero net chemical potential shifts the exact abundance boundary; the zero-potential curve is an approximate crossover marker.

For $s>0$,This follows from $(e^x+1{)}^{-1}=(e^x-1{)}^{-1}-2(e^{2x}-1{)}^{-1}$. In three spatial dimensions it gives the fermion-to-boson ratios $3/4$ for ultrarelativistic particle number and $7/8$ for energy density.

A Fermi gas consists of noninteracting fermions whose one-particle states are occupied according to the Fermi-Dirac distribution.

Neglecting interactions and thermal pairs, the Fermi-Dirac distribution $f(p)=[\exp ((\epsilon (p)-{\mu }_{\mathrm{kin}})/(k_{B}T))+1{]}^{-1}$ with kinetic energy $\epsilon (p)=\sqrt{m_e^2{c}^4+p^2{c}^2}-m_e{c}^2$ determines the Electron contribution to a stellar equation of state. The kinetic chemical potential is fixed by the electron number density, not an independently chosen pressure fraction:The electron kinetic internal energy per volume is $({\pi }^2{\hslash }^3{)}^{-1}{\int }_0^{\infty }{p}^2\epsilon (p)f(p)dp$. In the nondegenerate limit $P_e=n_e{k}_{B}T$; at zero temperature the integrals become the equation of state of a cold electron gas. These are limits of one component and must not be added together as independent electron pressures. When electron-positron thermal pair abundance matters, both charge species must be included, with charge neutrality fixing their net density.

For density of states $AV{ϵ}^a$, $a>-1$, the grand canonical ensemble has $\log \mathcal{Z}=V{T}^{a+1}f(\mu /T)$. Strict monotonicity of Fermi gas entropy per particle makes $\mu /T$ constant at fixed entropy and particle number. Therefore $V{T}^{a+1}$ and $P{V}^{(a+2)/(a+1)}$ are constant along a reversible adiabatic process.

For density of states proportional to ${ϵ}^a$, $a>-1$, and positive temperature, set $q=\mu /(kT)$, $n(x)=(1+e^{x-q}{)}^{-1}$, $b=a+1$ and $M_j={\int }_0^{\infty }{x}^{a+j}n(1-n)dx$. Differentiation and integration by parts giveThe inequality is strict Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, since $x$ is not constant under this positive weight. Thus fixed entropy per particle forces fixed $\mu /T$. This is the injectivity step behind the adiabatic scaling of an ideal Fermi gas.

The Fermi energy is the energy of the highest occupied one-particle state of a noninteracting Fermi gas at zero temperature. Equivalently, it is the zero-temperature chemical potential.

The kinetic electron Fermi temperature is $T_F=[\sqrt{m_e^2{c}^4+p_F^2{c}^2}-m_e{c}^2]/k_B$, where the Fermi momentum $p_F=\hslash (3{\pi }^2{n}_e{)}^{1/3}$ counts the net Electrons. Strong degeneracy requires $T\ll T_F$. With mean molecular weight per electron ${\mu }_e$ and $n_e=\rho /({\mu }_e{m}_u)$, $T_F=(m_e{c}^2/k_B)[\sqrt{1+(\rho /{\rho }_{\ast }{)}^{2/3}}-1]$. Its nonrelativistic and ultrarelativistic limits scale as ${\rho }^{2/3}$ and ${\rho }^{1/3}$, respectively.

Fermi momentum is the momentum at the boundary of occupied one-particle states in a zero-temperature Fermi gas. For spin-one-half particles in three dimensions, counting the two spin states gives $p_F=\hslash (3{\pi }^{2}n{)}^{1/3}$, where $n$ is number density.

The Fermi sea is the zero-temperature many-fermion state in which every one-particle state below the Fermi energy is occupied and every state above it is empty.

For spin-one-half particles in three dimensions with dispersion $\epsilon =pc$, the density of states isAt zero temperature,

Degeneracy pressure is the pressure of a fermionic system that remains at zero temperature because the Pauli exclusion principle forces particles to occupy states with nonzero momentum.

Electron degeneracy pressure supports dense objects when electrons fill momentum states up to a Fermi surface. In the nonrelativistic limit, a fixed-mass self-gravitating object has the characteristic degenerate scaling $R\propto M^{-1/3}$.

The condition $p_F=m_{e}c$ gives ${\rho }_{\ast }=[{\mu }_e{m}_u/(3{\pi }^2)](m_{e}c/\hslash {)}^3\simeq 9.74\times 10^5{\mu }_e\mathrm{g}\mathrm{c}{\mathrm{m}}^{-3}$. Degenerate Electrons are nonrelativistic for $\rho \ll {\rho }_{\ast }$ and ultrarelativistic for $\rho \gg {\rho }_{\ast }$. This density threshold differs from thermal relativity in a nondegenerate gas.

For noninteracting electrons at zero temperature, define $x=p_F/(m_{e}c)$ with Fermi momentum $p_F=\hslash (3{\pi }^2{n}_e{)}^{1/3}$. The isotropic momentum flux gives electron degeneracy pressureIts nonrelativistic and ultrarelativistic limits arerespectively. In a fully ionized stellar gas, $n_e=\rho /({\mu }_e{m}_u)$, using mean molecular weight per electron ${\mu }_e$. This neglects finite-temperature effects, interactions, and changes in composition.

Pauli paramagnetism is the weak positive magnetic response produced when a magnetic field shifts the two spin Fermi surfaces of a degenerate electron gas. At zero temperature, if $g(E_F)$ includes both spin states, its total magnetic moment and susceptibility are

Magnetic susceptibility measures the linear change of magnetization or magnetic moment with an applied magnetic field. With the relevant convention stated explicitly, $\chi =\partial M/\partial B$.

For independent moments of angular momentum $J$ at small ${\mu }_B|B|/(k_{B}T)$, the zero-field variance is $⟨m^2⟩=J(J+1)/3$. Differentiating the canonical mean gives the magnetic susceptibilityThus susceptibility is inversely proportional to temperature. The small-field or high-temperature condition distinguishes this law from the exponentially vanishing fixed-field susceptibility of a saturated paramagnet at low temperature.

For nonrelativistic electrons in area $A$, with spin degeneracy $g_s=2$ and energy $E={\hslash }^2{k}^2/(2m)$, the density of one-particle states is independent of energy:

When the density of states is constant and the chemical potential is fixed at $E_F$, the thermal gain above $E_F$ cancels the thermal depletion below it after the energy range is extended to the whole real line. The finite lower edge leaves only an exponentially small correction of order $e^{-\beta E_F}$.

For constant density of states, weighting the difference between the Fermi-Dirac distribution and the zero-temperature step by $E-E_F$ produces a convergent integral that scales as ${\beta }^{-2}$. Hence the leading low-temperature energy correction is proportional to $T^2$.

For a two-dimensional Fermi gas of $N$ spin-one-half particles with Fermi energy $E_F$, the constant density of states makes the low-temperature internal energy correction and heat capacity at constant areaThus its low-temperature heat capacity obeys a power law with exponent one.

At zero temperature, a two-dimensional free Fermi gas satisfies

When $E-\mu \gg k_{B}T$, the additive $\mp 1$ is negligible and both quantum distributions reduce to the Maxwell--Boltzmann factor $e^{-(E-\mu )/(k_{B}T)}$.

For particles of mass $m$, spin degeneracy $g_s$, and energy $m{c}^2+p^2/(2m)$,