ide

Problems and Solutions in

Ideal Fermi Systems

gu Sk Jahiruddin*
Suchismito Chatterjee
ics
*Assistant Professor
Sister Nibedita Govt. College, Kolkata
Author was the topper of IIT Bombay M.Sc Physics 2009-2011 batch
He ranked 007 in IIT JAM 2009 and 008 (JRF) in CSIR NET June
ys

2011

He has been teaching CSIR NET aspirants since 2012

Ph

1
©Sk Jahiruddin, 2020 Ideal Fermi Systems

Contents
1 Problems from NET, GATE,

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JEST, TIFR & JAM papers 3
1.1 Ans Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.2 Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

gu
ics
ys
Ph

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©Sk Jahiruddin, 2020 Ideal Fermi Systems

1 Problems from NET, GATE,

JEST, TIFR & JAM papers

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Prob 1.1. The Fermi-Dirac distribution function [n(ε)] is
(kB is the Boltzmann constant, T is the temperature and εF
is the Fermi energy) [JAM 2019]
1 1
(a) n(ε) = ε−εF (b) n(ε) = εF −ε

gue kB T − 1
(c) n(ε) = ε−ε1F
e kB T +1
e B T −1
1
k

(d) n(ε) = εF −ε
e kB T +1
Prob 1.2. The probability that an energy level ε at tem-
ics
perature T is unoccupied by a fermion of chemical potential
µ is [GATE 2009]
1 1 1
(a)   (b)   (c)  
ε−µ ε−µ µ−ε
exp kB T + 1 exp kB T − 1 exp kB T + 1
ys

1
(d)  
µ−ε
exp kB T −1
Ph

Prob 1.3. Which one of the following is a fermion? [GATE

2014]
(a) α particle (b) Be42 nucleus (c) hydrogen atom (d)
deuteron
Prob 1.4. The pressure of a free, non-relativistic Fermi
gas in 3-dimensions depends, at T = 0, on the density of

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©Sk Jahiruddin, 2020 Ideal Fermi Systems

fermions n as [NET June 2014]

(a) n5/3 (b) n1/3 (c) n 2/3
(d) n 4/3

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Prob 1.5. The electrons in graphene can be thought of
as a two-dimensional gas with a linear energy-momentum
relation E = |~p|v, where p~ = (px , py ) and v is a constant. If
ρ is the number of electrons per unit area, the energy per
unit area is proportional to [NET Dec 2016]
(a) ρ3/2
gu (b) ρ (c) ρ1/3 (d) ρ2
Prob 1.6. The dispersion relation of a gas of spin- 21 fermions
→
−
in two dimensions is E = ~ν| k |, where Eis the energy, k
→
−
ics
is the wave vector and ν is a constant with the dimension
of velocity. If the Fermi energy at zero temperature is F
, the number of particles per unit area is [NET Dec 2017]
ys

3/2
F 3F πF 2F
(a) (4πν~) (b) (6π ν 3 ~2 )
2 (c) (3ν 3 ~3 ) (d) (2πν 2 ~2 )

Prob 1.7. Consider an ideal Fermi gas in a grand canoni-

Ph

cal ensemble at a constant chemical potential. The variance

of the occupation number of the single particle energy level
with mean occupation number n is [NET Dec 2018]
√ 1
(a) n(1 − n) (b) n (c) n (d) √
n
Prob 1.8. At low temperatures, in the Debye approxima-

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©Sk Jahiruddin, 2020 Ideal Fermi Systems

tion, the contribution of the phonons to the heat capacity

of a two- dimensional solid is proportional to [NET Dec
2018]

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(a) T 2 (b) T 3 (c) T 1/2 (d) T 3/2
Prob 1.9. An ideal gas of non-relativistic fermions in 3-
dimensions is at 0K. When both the number density and
the mass of the particles are doubled, then the energy per

gu
particle is multiplied by a factor
(a) 21/2 (b) 1 (c) 21/3 (d) 2−1/3
[JEST 2014]

Prob 1.10. A cylinder at temperature T = 0 is separated

ics
into two compartments A and B by a free sliding piston.
Compartments A and B are filled by Fermi gases made of
spin 1/2 and 3/2 particles respectively. If particles in both
the compartments have same mass, the ratio of equilibrium
ys

density of the gas in compartment A to that of gas in com-

partment B is [JEST 2017]
1 1 1
(a) 1 (b) 2/5 (c) 2/5 (d) 2/3
Ph

3 2 2
Prob 1.11. Consider a non-relativistic two-dimensional
gas of N electrons with the Fermi energy EF . What is the
average energy per particle at temperature T = 0? [JEST
2019]
(A) 53 EF (B) 25 EF (C) 12 EF (D) EF

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©Sk Jahiruddin, 2020 Ideal Fermi Systems

Prob 1.12. The energy per oscillator of an isolated sys-

tem of a large number of non-interacting, identical fermions
in a 1-dimensional harmonic oscillator potential is 5~ω/4

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where ω is the angular frequency of the harmonic oscillator.
The entropy of the system per oscillator is given by [TIFR
2016]
(a) 0.25 (b) 0.56 (c) 0.63 (d) 0.75

gu
Prob 1.13. In two dimensions, two metals A and B, have
the number density of free electrons in the ratio nA : nB =
1 : 2. The ratio of their Fermi energies is [TIFR 2017]
ics
(a) 2:3 (b) 1:2 (c) 1:4 (d) 1:8
Prob 1.14. A white dwarf star has volume V and con-
tains N electrons so that the density of electrons is n =
N/V
ys

Taking the temperature of the star to be 0K, the av-

.
3~2 2
erage energy per electron in the star is 0 = (3π 2 n) 3 ,
10m
where m is the mass of the electron. The electronic pressure
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in the star is [JAM 2017]

1 2
(a) n0 (b) 2n0 (c) n0 (d) n0
3 3
Prob 1.15. Consider a 2-dimensional electron gas with
a density of 1019 m−2 . The Fermi Energy of the system is
eV (up to two decimal places) (me = 9.31×10−31 kg, h =
6.626 × 10−34 Js, e = 1.602 × 10−19 C) [GATE 2017]

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©Sk Jahiruddin, 2020 Ideal Fermi Systems

Prob 1.16. At temperature T Kelvin (K), the value of the

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Fermi function at an energy 0.5eV above the Fermi energy
is 0.01. Then T , to the nearest integer, is ——— [GATE
2019]
kB = 8.62 × 10−5 eV/K

gu
Prob 1.17. For an ideal Fermi gas in 3 dimensions, the
electron velocity VF at the Fermi surface is related to elec-
tron concentration n as
(a)VF ∝ n2/3 (b)VF ∝ n (c)VF ∝ n1/2
[GATE 2012]
(d)VF ∝
ics
n1/3
Prob 1.18. The pressure of a non relativistic free Fermi
gas in three-dimensions depends, at T = 0, on the density
ys

of fermions n as [NET June 2014]

(a) n5/3 (b) n1/3 (c) n2/3 (d) n4/3

Ph

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©Sk Jahiruddin, 2020 Ideal Fermi Systems

1.1 Ans Keys

1.1. c 1.7. a 1.13. b

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1.2. c 1.8. a 1.14. d
1.3. b 1.9. d 1.15. 2.36
1.4. a 1.10. c 1.16. 1263
1.5. a
1.6. d gu 1.11. c
1.12. b
1.17. d
1.18. a
ics
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Ph

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©Sk Jahiruddin, 2020 Ideal Fermi Systems

1.2 Solutions
Sol 1.1. the fermi statistics applied for only the fermeonic

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system where a single particle state can accommodate only
one or none particle. and the fermi energy is defined as the
energy level upto which all states are completely occupied
and at temperature higher than 0 kelvin the occupancy is

gu
half and the for the fermi systems µ = EF where EF is the
fermi energy level hence we have

n(ε) =
1
ε−εF
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e kB T
+1
so option c is correct.
Sol 1.2. the occupancy means the probability of a single
particle state gets occupied and for the fermionic system it
ys

is given by
1
 
ε−µ
exp kB T + 1
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Sol 1.3. if we consider the nuclear energy level particle dis-

tribution then we have even number of protons and neutron
hence Be42 can never be fermeonic system. only deuterium
has the PROTON+ELECTRON+NEUTRON=3 and that
is odd hence the system is fermeonic and hence option d is
correct.

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©Sk Jahiruddin, 2020 Ideal Fermi Systems

Sol 1.4. the pressure of a fermeonic system can be defined

as PF = 23 nEF now we can show that EF ∝ n2/3 hence we
can surely say that PF ∝ n5/3 hence the option a is correct.

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Sol 1.5. now we are considering the momentum space, the
number of state in K to K+dK is given by

n(k)dk = (L/2π)2 2πKdK

gu
now we have E = ~Kv so we take dE = ~dKv now we are
calculating the number of the particle

N=
Z EF
L2
EdE =
L2
EF 2
ics
2
π~ v 2 2
2π~ v 2
0

so we can say EF 2 = 2π~2 v 2 ρ now we are calculating the

average energy at zero kelvin
R EF 2
√
2π~~vρ3/2
ys

0 E.g(E)dE 2L
< E >= =
N 3N
so we can say E/L2 ∝ ρ3/2
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Sol 1.6. Solved previously

Sol 1.7. in previous discussion we have discuss that the
variance is defined as
 
1
dn̄ d e(Ej −µ)β
σ = kB T = kB T = n̄(1 − n̄)
dµ dµ
hence option a is correct.

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©Sk Jahiruddin, 2020 Ideal Fermi Systems

Sol 1.8. the specific heat of a solid of n dimension is pro-

portional to Cv ∝ T n hence we have that as here we consider
two dimensional case so we have Cv ∝ T 2 .

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Sol 1.9. the average energy in 3 D can be defined as follows
in terms of the fermi energy of the system E = 35 nEF and
we have the n is the number density and we now that EF =
3πn2 1/3 now we can put all this values in the equation and

gu
we get EF ∝ n4/3 after density is changed hence ratio of
first situation to 2nd one is 1/21/3 so option d is correct.
Sol 1.10. we know the pressure
ics
2/3 2
6π 2 n

2 2 ~
P = nEF = n
5 5 g 2m

now we know at the equilibrium we have the pressure are

ys

equal in two compartment which gives

 2/3  2/3
nA nB
nA = nB
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gA gB

nA 1
and we have gA = 2 and gB = 4 putting we get nB =
22/5
Sol 1.11. We have the average energy
√
2L2 2π~~vρ3/2
< E >=
3N

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©Sk Jahiruddin, 2020 Ideal Fermi Systems

and we have
L2
N= 2 2
EF 2
2π~ v

ide
hence we apply the value of N in the first case and get
< E >= 21 EF
Sol 1.12.
Sol 1.13. we know

gu n ∝ EF
from the previous problems . we can treat also that EF ∝ n
so option b is correct.
ics
2U
Sol 1.14. the pressure is defined as P = 3v as we are given
by that average energy of the system

3~2 2
0 = (3π 2 n) 3
ys

10m
2 N 0
so we can say that P = 3 v = 32 n0 hence the option d is
correct.
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Sol 1.15. let us consider the system in the momentum space

so the number of states in the k to k+dk then the number
of states n(k) = 2πkdkA
~2 now we have the E = ~k so we can
put all this in the equation

2πA EF EdE πAEF 2

Z
N= 2 =
~ 0 ~2 ~4
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©Sk Jahiruddin, 2020 Ideal Fermi Systems

now here we say N/A=n(number density) putting all the

values we get
~4 1/2

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EF = ( π)
n
now we putt all the values and get EF = 2.37
Sol 1.16. we have
1

gu
from this we can say
F (E) =
e(E−EF )β + 1

E − EF
ics
T =
kB ln(1 − F (E))/F (E)
here E − EF = 0.5 hence T=1263.
1/3
Sol 1.17. the fermi energy EF ∝ 3n2 π .where n is the
ys

1 2
number density . now EF = 2 mvF now we can say that
vF ∝ n1/3 so option d is correct.
Sol 1.18. the average energy of the system < E >= 35 EF
Ph

but we know that EF ∝ n2/3 the pressure of the system is

defined
2N
P = <E>
3V
now N/V=n hence we have P ∝ n5/3

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