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Physical Review A

Manifestations of Bose and Fermi statistics on the quantum distribution function for systems of spin-0 and spin-½ particles

Robert F. O’Connell, Eugene Paul Wigner

Published Nov 1, 1984• 31 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We consider the manifestations of Bose and Fermi statistics on the original quantum distribution function. Initially, we consider some general symmetry properties of the density matrix. Next, we convert these results into distribution-function language for the case of a system of spin-0 particles. Finally, we consider a system of spin-\textonehalf{} particles, for which we treat the combined effects of both spin and statistics.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.30.2613

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We consider the manifestations of Bose and Fermi statistics on the original quantum distribution function. Initially, we consider some general symmetry properties of the density matrix. Next, we convert these results into distribution-function language for the case of a system of spin-0 particles. Finally, we consider a system of spin-\textonehalf{} particles, for which we treat the combined effects of both spin and statistics.
Chapter 15 is devoted to systems of identical particles and the associated quantum statistics. It is shown how the spin (whether integer or half-integer) determines fundamental features of the system’s behavior that cannot be obtained by approximate methods, in particular the exchange effects characteristic of states of two or more identical particles. The spin-symmetry relation is discussed in detail for both the Bose–Einstein and the Fermi–Dirac statistics. Quantum collective phenomena that are a defining feature of condensed matter, including phonons, superconductivity, Bose–Einstein condensates and the quantum Hall effect, are briefly introduced. Since most real quantum systems consist of subsystems in different quantum states that are mixtures of pure states, the chapter includes an introduction to the density matrix, its basic properties and its application to quantum statistics. It concludes with a critical discussion of decoherence and the significance of the collapse of the wave function.
We overwiev the properties of a quantum gas of particles with the intermediate statistics defined by Haldane. Although this statistics has no direct connection to the symmetry of the multiparticle wave function, the statistical distribution function interpolates continuously between the Fermi-Dirac and the Bose-Einstein limits. We present an explicit solution of the transcendental equation for the didtribution function in a general case, as well as determine the thermodynamic properties in both low- and high-temperature limits.
By expanding the grand partition function, we obtain the expression for partition function of two dimensional free particles which is seen to be of the same form as that of one dimensional harmonic oscillators. For such systems it is shown that the difference in statistics does not appear in thermal behavior. When the energy levels of the particles are modified as ε n 1 , n 2 = Δ + b ( n 1 2 + n 2 2 ), Δ >0, the Bose condensation occurs and, if we set Δ =2 b , the condensation temperature qualitatively agrees with that of Osborne. The speciffic heat of free Bosons in a narrow box is calculated as the function of temperature, its width d being taken 7.1 Å and 14.2 Å. The results show that the maximum of the specific heat occurs at higher temperatures than that of the case d =∞, and its height becomes lower. The weak excitation of a Fermi system can be treated as excitons which obey Bose statistics. And we can show, by the method analogous to that of Ward and Wilks and Dingle, that the sound wave in a Fermi gas should be considered as the second sound, or the propagation of fluctuation in exciton distribution. Its propagation velocity is shown to become p0/3mp_{0}/\sqrt{3}mp0​/3​m, where p 0 is the momentum at the Fermi surface.
In classical physics, the question whether there are subsets of identical particles is not particularly interesting. After all, whether the particles are identical or not, we can always track each of them at any time. As we shall see, in quantum mechanics identical particles are indistinguishable because we cannot track trajectories, and this fact induces some important symmetry properties on the total wave function describing the system of particles under consideration. Generally speaking, a symmetry is an effect of an invariance, that is, the system does not change if one effects certain transformations (see Ch. 8). In this case, the system is not modified under exchange of two identical particles. Moreover, such a symmetry yields a most interesting connection between spin and statistics. After a short introduction to the significance of statistics in quantum mechanics (in Sec. 7.1), we define the permutation operator and discuss the symmetry properties of the wave function of N identical particles (Sec. 7.2). In Sec. 7.3 we show that quantum particles, differently from classical particles (that obey the Maxwell–Boltzmann statistics), may be subject to two different statistics, namely the Fermi–Dirac statistics for fermions and the Bose–Einstein statistics for bosons. In Sec. 7.4 we treat the so-called exchange interaction and, finally, in Sec. 7.5 we consider some applications of the two statistics. Statistics and quantum mechanics Identical particles are those particles whose Hamiltonian is symmetric under exchange of one particle with the other.
In nature, two different classes of particles are found, called fermi particles, or fermions, and bose particles, or bosons, respectively. The MB statistics is therefore an approximation to the true particle statistics and is applicable only in situations when most states are empty with some states occupied by a single particle and very few states, in the case of bosons, occupied by more than one particle. At high temperatures, the chemical potential decreases and the distribution changes its form dramatically. In discussing the quantum distribution functions, the authors have for convenience chosen the lowest state to have energy zero. The quantum distribution functions derived in this chapter are extremely useful in many areas of physics whenever what are called degenerate Fermi or Bose fluids are considered.