Normal behavior of the thermodynamic properties of a Fermi gas in d> 2 dimensions, integer or not, means monotonically increasing or decreasing of its specific heat, chemical potential or isothermal sound velocity, all as functions of temperature. However, for 0 < d < 2 dimensions these properties develop a “hump ” (or “trough”) which increases (or deepens) as d → 0. Though not the phase transition signaled by the sharp features (“cusp ” or “jump”) in those properties for the ideal Bose gas in d> 2 (known as the Bose-Einstein condensation), it is nevertheless an intriguing structural anomaly which we exhibit in detail. 1 PACS: 71.10.Pm; 05.30.Fk; 05.70.Ce; 71.10.-w; 71.10.Ca
Normal behavior of the thermodynamic properties of a Fermi gas in d> 2 dimensions, integer or not, means monotonically increasing or decreasing of its specific heat, chemical potential or isothermal sound velocity, all as functions of temperature. However, for 0 < d < 2 dimensions these properties develop a “hump ” (or “trough”) which increases (or deepens) as d → 0. Though not the phase transition signaled by the sharp features (“cusp ” or “jump”) in those properties for the ideal Bose gas in d> 2 (known as the Bose-Einstein condensation), it is nevertheless an intriguing structural anomaly which we exhibit in detail. 1 PACS: 71.10.Pm; 05.30.Fk; 05.70.Ce; 71.10.-w; 71.10.Ca
A physical interpretation is given to a curious "hump" that develops in the chemical potential as a function of absolute temperature in an ideal Fermi gas for any spatial dimensionality d < 2, integer or not, in contrast with the more familiar monotonic decrease for all d ≥ 2. The hump height increases without limit as d decreases to zero. The divergence at d = 0 is shown to be a clear manifestation of the Pauli Exclusion Principle whereby two spinless fermions cannot sit on top of each other in configuration space. The hump itself is thus an obvious precursor of this manifestation, otherwise well understood in momentum space. It also constitutes an "ideal quantum dot" when d = 0.
The thermodynamic properties of an ideal gas of bosons moving freely within layered planes and having a finite amplitude for jumping between neighbouring planes, are derived. As long as this coupling is non-zero, the system becomes effectively two-dimensional at sufficiently high temperatures. At a correspondingly low temperature it undergoes a Bose-Einstein transition into a condensed phase as in three dimensions. Below the critical temperature the specific heat is a universal function of only one dimensionless system variable. The phase transition becomes weaker as the coupling between the planes decreases and eventually disappears when the planes decouple.
Chapter 1. Exact and explicit results are derived for the thermodynamic properties (isochores, isotherms, isobars, response functions, speed of sound) of a quantum gas in dimensions [special characters omitted] ≥ 1 and with fractional exclusion statistics 0 ≤ g ≤ 1 connecting bosons (g = 0) and fermions (g = 1). In [special characters omitted] = 1 the results are equivalent to those of the Calogero-Sutherland model, a gas with long-range two-body interaction. Emphasis is given to the crossover between boson-like and fermion-like features, caused by aspects of the statistical interaction that mimic long-range attraction and short-range repulsion. A phase transition along the isobar occurs at a nonzero temperature in all dimensions. The T-dependence of the speed of sound is in simple relation to isochores and isobars. The effects of soft container walls are accounted for rigorously for the case of a pure power-law potential. Chapter 2. The exact thermodynamics (isochores, isotherms, isobars, response functions, speed of sound) is worked out for a statistically interacting quantum gas in [special characters omitted] dimensions. The results in [special characters omitted] = 1 are those of the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz for the Nonlinear Schrödinger model, a gas with repulsive two-body contact potential. In all dimensions the ideal boson and fermion gases are recovered in the weak-coupling and strong-coupling limits, respectively. For all nonzero couplings ideal fermion gas behavior emerges for [special characters omitted] >> 1 and, in the limit [special characters omitted] → ∞, a phase transition occurs at T > 0. Significant deviations from ideal quantum gas behavior are found for intermediate coupling and finite [special characters omitted]. Chapter 3. Methodology previously developed in the framework of the coordinate Bethe ansatz applied to integrable quantum gas models is employed to calculate some ground-state properties and elementary excitations for quantum gas models in [special characters omitted] = 1 dimensions with statistical interactions that are not equivalent to dynamical interactions. The focus in this comparative study is on modifications of the Calogero-Sutherland and Nonlinear Schrödinger models. Statistical interactions cannot be chosen arbitrarily. They must satisfy certain physicality conditions, which will be discussed in some detail.
For the ideal Fermi gas that fills a quantum well confined by two parallel planes, there are calculated the thermodynamic characteristics in general form for arbitrary temperatures, namely: the thermodynamic potential, energy, entropy, equations of state, heat capacities and compressibilities. The distance between planes is considered as an additional thermodynamic variable. Owing to the anisotropy, the pressure of the Fermi gas along and transverse to the planes is different, so that the system is characterized by two equations of state and a set of different heat capacities. Limiting cases of low and high temperatures are considered. The temperature dependencies of the entropy and heat capacities at low temperatures remain linear, just as in the volume case, and their dependencies on the chemical potential and density undergo jumps at the beginning of the filling of new discrete levels. It is shown that the behavior of thermodynamic quantities with the distance between plates can be either oscillating or monotonic, depending on what quantity is assumed to be fixed: the volume or surface density. For high temperatures the corrections to thermodynamic quantities are obtained, which are proportional to the ratio of the thermal de Broglie wavelength to the distance between planes.
The thermodynamic properties of a nonrelativistic free-electron Fermi gas is of fundamental interest in condensed matter physics. Properties previously studied in three-dimensions (3D) in the low- and high-temperature limits include the internal energy, heat capacity, zero-field magnetic spin susceptibility, and pressure. Here we report solutions for the temperature dependence spanning these two temperature regimes of the chemical potential, internal energy, magnetic susceptibility, and the heat capacity at constant volume in 1D, 2D, and 3D. Also calculated are the pressure, enthalpy, heat capacity at constant pressure, isothermal compressibility, and thermal expansion coefficient versus temperature in 2D and 3D. Of primary interest here are the detailed dimension-dependent crossovers of these properties between the degenerate and nondegenerate temperature regime, which are graphically illustrated for each of the above properties.
Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of a noninteracting Bose gas of N particles in a two-dimensional box with Dirichlet boundary conditions is studied. Confirming previous work, we find that BEC occurs at finite N at low temperatures T without the occurrence of a phase transition. The conventionally-defined transition temperature T(E) for an infinite three-dimensional (3D) system is shown to correspond in a 2D system with finite N to a crossover temperature between a slow and rapid increase in the fractional boson occupation N(0)/N of the ground state with decreasing T. We further show that T(E)∼1/logN at fixed area per boson, so in the thermodynamic limit there is no significant BEC in 2D at finite T. Thus, paradoxically, BEC only occurs in 2D at finite N with no phase transition associated with it. Calculations of thermodynamic properties versus T and area A are presented, including Helmholtz free energy, entropy S, pressure p, ratio of p to the energy density U/A, heat capacity at constant volume (area) C(V) and at constant pressure C(p), isothermal compressibility κ(T) and thermal expansion coefficient α(p), obtained using both the grand-canonical ensemble (GCE) and canonical ensemble (CE) formalisms. The GCE formalism gives acceptable predictions for S, p, p/(U/A), κ(T) and α(p) at large N, T and A but fails for smaller values of these three parameters for which BEC becomes significant, whereas the CE formalism gives accurate results for all thermodynamic properties of finite systems even at low T and/or A where BEC occurs.