Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal

Home Assignment 1
PHY 306/604
Advanced Statistical Mechanics

Duration: .... 100 Marks

1. A Hamiltonian is independent of q. Show that p remains constant. and q

increases with linearly with time. Sketch the phase diagram for
a ) H(q, p) = p
b ) H(q, p) = p2 /2
c ) H(q, p) = sin(αp)

p
2. Sketch the phase diagram of the a ) H(q, p) = p + (1 − p2 )sin(q) for
|p| < 1. (You can use computer for the plotting phase diagram).

3. Consider a system of N non-interacting spins. Find the equilibrium value

of the fractional magnetisation M/N m = 2 < s > /N of the system of N
spins each of magnetic moment m in a magnetic field B, here the total
spin is 2s. Show that entropy S ≈ S0 − kb U 2 /(2m2 B 2 N ). Further show
that T1 = −U/(m2 B 2 N ). Where U denotes the average thermal energy.

4. Given two systems of N1 ≈ N2 = 1022 spins with multiplicity of the

micro-states g1 (N1 , s1 ) and g2 (N2 , s−s1 ). Product is sharply peak around
s1 = ŝ1 . Use the Gaussian approximation for the multiplicity function.
a) Compute g1 g2 /(g1 g2 )max for s1 = ŝ + 1011 and s = 0.
= 1020 by what factor must you multiply (g1 g2 )max to make it
b) For s P
equal to s1 g1 (N1 , s1 )g2 (N2 , s − s1 ); give the factor to the nearest order
of the magnitude.
c) How large is fractional error in the entropy when you ignore this factor.

5. Calculate the volume of an n dimensional ball of radius R.

6. Calculate the surface area of an n dimensional ball of radius R.

7. Show that the volume of a sphere of radius R can be written as,

Z R Z
Σ3 (R) = dr dxdydz δ(x2 + y 2 + z 2 − r2 ).
0

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 Hence show that,
∂
Σ3 (R) = Ω3 (R).
∂R
Where Z
Ω3 (R) = dxdydzδ(x2 + y 2 + z 2 ≤ R2 ) = 4πR2 .

8. Consider an isolated system consisting of a large number N of very weakly

interacting localized particles of spin 21 . Each particle has magnetic mo-
ment µ which can point either parallel or anti parallel to an applied mag-
netic field H. The energy E of the system is then

E = −(n1 − n2 )µH,

where n1 is the number of spin aligned parallel to H and n2 number of

spins aligned anti-parallel to H.
(i) Consider the energy range between E and E + δEwhere δE is very
small compared to E but macroscopically large so that δE >> µH. What
is the total number of micro-states Ω(E) lying in this energy range?
(ii) Write down an expression for ln Ω(E) as a function of E.
(iii) Calculate the temperature as a function of E.

9. Consider a system of N free particles in which the energy of each particle

can assume only two distinct values, 0 and E (E > 0). Denote n0 and n1
the occupation numbers of the energy levels 0 and E, respectively. The
total energy of the system is U .
(i) Find the entropy of such a system.
(ii) Find the most probable values of n0 and n1 and find the mean square
fluctuations of these quantities.
(iii) Find the temperature as a function of U and show that it can be
negative.

10. A solid contains N magnetic atoms having spin 1/2. At sufficiently high
temperature each spin is completely random. At sufficiently low temper-
ature they oriented along the same direction. If the heat capacity of the
system is approximated as C = c1 ( 2T T1 − 1) if T1 /2 < T < T1 else C = 0.
Then find the value of c1 . (Hint first calculate no micro states in the limit
of T → ∞ and T = 0, then use the relation between specific heat and
dS
entropy i.e. C = T dT .)
11. Suppose that there are n independent random variables, Xi , each with
2
the same mean < X > and variance σX . Let Y be the sum of the random
variables, so that Y = X1 + X2 + + Xn . Find the mean and variance of
Y.

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12. Calculate the characteristic function, the mean and the variance of the
following probability density function:
1
a) Uniform p(x) = 2a for −a < x < a and p(x) = 0 otherwise
b) Laplace p(x) = 2a exp( −|x|
1
a )
c) Cauchy p(x) = π(x2a+a2 )
The following two probability density functions are only defined in x ≥ 0.
Compute only the mean and variance for each.
2
d) Rayleigh p(x) = ax2 exp( −x )
q 2 2a2 2
e) Maxwell p(x) = π2 xa3 exp( −x 2a2 )

13. A dice is loaded such that 6 occurs twice as often as 1.

Calculate the unbiased probabilities for the six faces of the dice.
14. Consider a system of N oscillators, each of unit mass and having frequency
ν. Find the number of states classically and use them to derive a relation
between the energy and temperature.

15. Doping a semiconductor : After diffusing impurities into a particular semi-

conductor the probability density p(x) for finding a given impurity a dis-
tance x below the surface is given by

p(x) = (0.8/l) exp[−x/l] + 0.2δ(x − d) x≥0

=0 x<0 (1)

where l and d are parameters with the units of distance. The delta function
arises because a fraction of impurities become trapped on an accidental
grain boundary a distance d below the surface.
a) Make a carefully labeled sketch of the cumulative function P (x) which

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displays all of its important features.
b) Find < x >.
c) Find the variance of x.
The contribution to the microwave surface impedance due to an impurity
decreases exponentially with its distance below the surface as e( − x/s).
The parameter s, the ”skin depth”, has the unit of distance.
d)Find < e(−x/s) >.