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NAME: 13 April 2012

Physics 112
Spring 2012

Midterm 3

(50 minutes =50 points)
Time yourself and move to the next problem after a number of minutes equal to the
number of points.


1) Entropy of a Fermi Dirac gas (15 points)
We consider a Fermi Dirac gas at temperature ! with a chemical potential .
a) (5 points) What are the probabilities that a state of energy " is not occupied and is
occupied?






b) (5 points) Show from the general definition of entropy, that the contribution to the
total entropy of a state of energy " is
! " ( ) =
" #
$
1
exp
" #
$
%
&
'
(
)
*
+1
+ log 1+ exp #
" #
$
%
&
'
(
)
*
%
&
'
(
)
*












c) (5 points) Usually /! is large. Sketch the behavior of #(") determining in
particular the energy region in which this contribution to the entropy is non
negligible? You may want to use the variable ! = " # .





2





2) Detailed Balance and Black Body Radiation (17 points)

Consider two concentric spherical shells that are black body radiators. One has a radius r
1
and fixed temperature T
1
and the other has radius r
2
and fixed temperature T
2
. Only a
fraction f of the radiation emitted by the inside of the outer sphere 2 will be intercepted
by the inner sphere 1.

r
r
1
2
T
1
T
2
!

a) (7 points) If T1=T2, what is the net heat flow (power) from one spherical shell to the
other. Show from this result that the fraction f of the total power emitted by 2 is absorbed
by 1 is
f =
r
1
2
r
2
2







b) (5 points) Derive from this value of f the expression of the power P
2!1
emitted by the
outer shell 2 and absorbed by shell 1 when the outer shell is at temperature T
2
! T
1
. What
is the net heat flow between the two shells if T
1
!T
2
?





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c) (5 points) How is result b) modified if the inner shell has absorptivity $ (while the
outer shell is a black body)












3) Two dimensional Fermi-Dirac gases (18 points)
In a number of modern semiconductor devices (MOSFET, HEMT etc..), it is possible to
create 2 dimensional potential wells at the border between two layers of material of
different gap. Free electrons in these wells behave as a two-dimensional Fermi-Dirac gas.

a) (3 points) What is the density A of quantum states in the 4 dimensional phase
space A d
2
xd
2
p (remember the electrons have spin 1/2)?





b) (5 points) Calling m the effective mass of the electron, write down the energy
density of states per unit volume D ! ( )d! (the electrons are non relativistic). It is
constant with energy!








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c) (5 points) These electron gases can have very high density and be totally
degenerate, in other words the chemical potential can be much bigger that the
temperature. Taking the temperature equal to zero, calculate the chemical
potential (Fermi energy) as a function of the density n.











d) (5 points) Deduce from the dependence of the density of states on energy that the
chemical potential will be independent of the temperature at low temperature (you
can explain this graphically or analytically, using the symmetry of the Fermi
Dirac distribution around ).