Phys.

3341 Homework Solution Set #3

Yoav Kallus

1 Reif 2.2
Figure 1 (left) gives the accessible region in position space. Figure 1 (right)
gives the accessible region in momentum space. The accessible region in phase
space is the Cartesian product of these two regions.

2 Reif 2.3
(a) If the range [φ, φ + dφ] yields positions in the range [x, x + dx], then we must
have w(φ)dφ = P (x)dx/2, where the factor of two enters because [φ, φ + dφ]
is just one of two ranges giving positions in [x, x + dx] (the other being [−φ −
2ωt, −φ − 2ωt + dφ]). Therefore, solving for P (x) we get

2w(φ)
P (x) = (1)
|dx/dφ|
1/π
= (2)
|A sin(ωt + φ)|
1/π
=√ . (3)
A2 − x2
(b) As shown in figure 2, the region of phase space at which the posi-
tion is between x and x + dx is given by two congruent disconnected regions,
each can
p be approximated by a parallelogram
√ with height dx and base length
dp = 2m(E + δE) − ω 2 x2 ) − 2mE − ω 2 x2 . Also from the figure we see
that the total accessible volume of phase space is bounded between two ellipses,
making its area equal to Vtotal = π(2m(E + δE))/ω − π(2mE)/ω = 2πmδE/ω.
Therefore, the fraction of phase space volume corresponding to the position

1
Figure 1: Accessible regions in position space (left) and momentum space (left)
for the particles in Reif 2.2.

Figure 2: Phase space diagram for the oscillator described in Reif 2.3. The
accessible region is bounded between the two ellipses given by H(x, p) = E
and H(x, p) = E + δE. The subregion corresponding to positions in the range
[x, x + dx] is highlighted and some of the coordinates of its corners are marked
on the axes.

2
range [x, x + dx] is

2dxdp
P (x)dx = (4)
Vtotal
p √
2dx( 2m(E + δE) − ω 2 x2 ) − 2mE − ω 2 x2 )
= (5)
2πmδE/ω
ωdx d p
= 2mE − ω 2 x2 (6)
πm dE
ωdx m
= √ (7)
πm 2mE − ω 2 x2
dx/π
= p . (8)
2mE/ω 2 − x2

And since A2 = 2mE/ω 2, our result matches the result from (a).

3 Reif 2.6
(a) A differential d̄F = A(x, y)dx + B(x, y)dy is a proper differential if and only
if the vector function f = A(x, y)i + B(x, y)j is curl-free. Here

∂ ∂ 2
curl f = x− (x − y) (9)
∂x ∂y
= 1 + 1 = 2, (10)

so the differential is improper.

(b) The integrals give, in order,
Z 2 Z 2
1dy + (x2 − 2)dx = 1 + (7/3 − 2) = 4/3 (11)
1 1
Z 2 Z 2
(x2 − 1)dx + 2dy = (7/3 − 1) + 2 = 10/3 (12)
1 1
Z 2 Z 2
[(x2 − x)dx + xdx] = x2 dx = 7/3. (13)
1 1

As expected, different paths give different results.

(c) The curl of the function g = f /x2 is given by

∂ 1 ∂  y 
curl g = − 1− 2 (14)
∂x x ∂y x
1 1
= − 2 + 2 = 0. (15)
x x
So dG is a proper differential.

3
 (d) Again, we perform the integrals to get
Z 2 Z 2
1dy + (1 − 2/x2 )dx = 1 + (1 + (2/2) − (2/1)) = 1 (16)
1 1
Z 2 Z 2
2
(1 − 1/x )dx + (1/2)dy = (1 + (1/2) − (1/1)) + (1/2) = 1 (17)
1 1
Z 2 Z 2
[(1 − 1/x)dx + 1/xdx] = 1dx = 1. (18)
1 1

As expected, the integral is path-independent.

4 Reif 2.7
(a) The energy of the state with given nx , ny , and nz is
!
~2 π 2 n2x n2y n2z
E= + 2 + 2 . (19)
2m L2x Ly Lz

If the particle is confined in the x direction by a wall at x = 0 and a wall at

x = Lx , and the wall at x = Lx is moved adiabatically, then the total energy of
the system will change according to (19). We can thus think of this energy as
a potential energy under subject to which the wall moves. The force associated
with this potential energy is then just given by its gradient:

∂E ~2 π 2 n2x
Fx = − = . (20)
∂Lx m L3x
∂E
The opposite wall feels a force in the opposite direction Fx = ∂L x
(b) The pressure on the wall due to a single particle in the given state is

Fx ~2 π 2 n2x
Pnx ,ny ,nz = = , (21)
Ly Lz m L5

where L = Lx = Ly = Lz . The pressure due to the average particle is then

~2 π 2 n2x
P = . (22)
m L5
We wish to relate this to the energy of the average particle, which is
!
~2 π 2 n2x n2y n2z
E= + 2 + 2 (23)
2m L2x Ly Lz
!
~2 π 2 n2
= 3 x2 , (24)
2m L

4
since we know n2x = n2y = n2z by symmetry. Therfore,
2E
P = = (2/3)E/V . (25)
3L3
If we sum up the pressure due to each particle to the total pressure on one side,
and on the other side sum up the energy of each particle to the total internal
energy, we get the familliar result U = (3/2)P V .

5 Elser 3.1
√ √
(a) For D = 1, 2, 3 the formula gives us respectively V1 = πR/( π/2) = 2R,
the length of an√interval with ”radius” R; V2 = πR2 , the area of a disk; and
V3 = π 3/2 R3 /(3 π/4) = 4πR3 /3, the volume of a ball.
(b) If the particles are distinguishable and noninteracting, the eigenstates of
the system are just all the different direct sums of the states of the individual
particles. Therefore, each such eigenstate can be label by the numbers nx,i , ny,i ,
and nz,i for i = 1, . . . N . The energy of each state is
N N
X ~2 π 2 X 2
E= Ei = n + n2y,i + nz,i (26)
i=1
2mL2 i=1 x,i
2 2
~ π X
= 3N n2j , (27)
2mL2 j=1

where I’ve relabeled the quantum numbers because which axes they belong to
is no longer relevant.
Now, consider the 3N -dimensional Euclidean space. Each point in this space
for which all the coordinates are positive integers corresponds to an eigenstate
of the system. Such points are uniformly distributed in the positive quadrant
of space (the region lying on the positive side of all 3N axes) if viewed on
a length scale much greater than 1. The associated density is unitless since
our axes our unitless and takes the convenient value of 1. The energy of the
state corresponding to each point is equal to E = ~2 π 2 r2 /2mL2 where r is the
distance of the point to the origin. Therefore, Φ(E) is given by the number
of
p integral points in the portion of the 3N -dimensional sphere of radius R =
2mL2 E/~2 π 2 lying in the positive quadrant.
For the limit that R ≫ 1, we can approximate this number by calculating
the volume of the relevant portion of the sphere and dividing by the density of
integral points:
π 3N/2 R3N
Φ(E) = (28)
23N/2 (3N/2)!

3N/2
πmL2 E
= . (29)
(3N/2)!
The energy dependence is Φ(E) ∼ E 3N/2 .