Statistical Physics

Problem Set #2
Due: April 31
°
1. Consider a gaseous system of N noninteracting, diatomic molecules, each hav- •

In
ing an electric dipole moment µ, placed in an external electric field of strength
E. The energy of such a molecule will be given by the kinetic energy of rotation FF .

as well as translation plus the potential energy of orientation in the applied field,
Solution 2
⇢kinetic
2 2
Potential
p p✓ p
"= + + µE cos ✓, (total energy)
2m 2I 2I sin2 ✓ -
-

where I is the moment of inertia of the molecule. Find the average electric
polarization and the dielectric constant. Assume the system is a classical system
and |µE| ⌧ kT .

2. The nuclei of atoms of a crystalline solid have spin-1 and are non-interacting
with three possible spin states |+i, |0i, | i. In the presence of an ellipsoidal
electric charge distribution, each nuclei obtain the following energies E± =
✏, E0 = 0.

(a) Consider a single nucleus in a “bath” of nuclei with fixed temperature T .

Calculate the probabilities P0 , P± of the three spin states.
(b) Compute the mean energy of a single nucleus.
(c) Consider a lattice of N such nuclei. Calculate the mean energy EN , and
entropy S of the system. Find the value of S in the limit of kT ✏ and
kT ⌧ ✏.
Fail.EE#nuEEtqtIpartitionfunution4h3Ee
3. Find the partition function of an extreme relativistic gas consisting of N monatomic
molecules with energy-momentum relationship " = pc, c being the speed of
light. Show P V = 13 U, U/N = 3kT ,and = 43 .

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4. A system of N spins at a negative temperature (E > 0) is brought into contact
with an ideal-gas thermometer consisting ofO N 0 molecules. What will the na-
FIERAture of their state of mutual equilibrium be? Will their common temperature be
negative or positive, and in what manner will it be affected by the ratio N 0 /N ?
o -

5. (Extra Credit) Figure 1(c) is a pyrochlore lattice composed of corner sharing

tetrahedra. We can put spins on this lattice such that the spins only pointing in
or out of the center of the tetrahedron(Fig 1(b)) This system can be in a “ice”
state if the spin configurations satisfy a local constraint, called the ice rule : two
spins pointing in, two spins pointing out (Fig. 1(b)). Given N spins, estimate
the number of possible states satisfying the ice rule. If the interaction between
the nearest neighbor spins are ferromagnetic, these configurations have the same

1
energy, which indicates the system is highly degenerate. At low temperature ,
any of these states can be the ground state, and we have frustration, i.e. it is
impossible to choose a single ground state. What is the entropy of the system
at low temperature? This entropy is related to the low temperature entropy of
water ice (Fig. 1(a)), where locally two protons are closer to the oxygen ion and
two are further away. Does this braek
← the third law of thermodynamics? What

would happen in nature? break

will connect to
One tetrahedron

2
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