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PHYSICAL REVIEW E 81, 041134 共2010兲

Thermodynamics in a complete description of Landau diamagnetism

F. Olivares,1,2 F. Pennini,1,2,* and S. Curilef1,†


1
Departamento de Física, Universidad Católica del Norte, Avenida Angamos, 0610 Antofagasta, Chile
2
Instituto de Física La Plata (CCT-CONICET-UNLP), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas,
Universidad Nacional de La Plata, C.C. 67, 1900 La Plata, Argentina
共Received 8 January 2010; revised manuscript received 17 March 2010; published 27 April 2010兲
In the present study we analyze some consequences that come from revised measures as the Wehrl entropy
and the Fisher information for the problem of a particle in a magnetic field starting from a complete description
of the Husimi function. We discuss in the most complete form 共three dimensions兲 some results related to
measures in contrast with the incomplete form 共two dimensions兲 shown in previous contributions. Some
limiting cases as high and low temperatures are discussed. From the present reasoning, it is suggested that the
formulation in two dimensions is sufficient unto itself to explain the problem whenever the length of the
cylindrical geometry of the system is large enough. Otherwise, it is not possible to work in all finite tempera-
tures, a natural lower temperature bound emerges from the analysis when three dimensions are considered.

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.81.041134 PACS number共s兲: 05.70.⫺a, 75.20.⫺g, 03.65.Sq, 71.70.Di

I. INTRODUCTION ticles is formed, forbidding their motion in the direction per-


pendicular to the interface plane at low energies.
Diamagnetism was a problem first appointed by Landau However, we propose here to discuss this problem in the
who showed the discreteness of energy levels for a charged most complete form 共three dimensions兲, some results related
particle in a magnetic field 关1兴. By the observation of the to the behavior of the Wehrl entropy in contrast with the
diverse scenarios in the framework provided by the Landau incomplete form 共two dimensions兲. From the present line of
diamagnetism we can study some relevant physical proper- reasoning, it is concluded that the two-dimensional formula-
ties 关2–4兴 as thermodynamic limit, role of boundaries, deco- tion is sufficient unto itself to explain the problem whenever
herence induced by the environment. The main motivation the length of the cylindrical geometry of the system is large
for several specialists work even today it is to make an ac- enough. Nevertheless, as suggested before, electronic de-
curate description of its theoretical and practical conse- vices are based in interfaces. Thus, this fact theoretically
quences. imposes a natural lower temperature bound that emerges
In the past the appropriate partition function for this prob- from the analysis when three dimensions are considered.
lem was calculated by Feldman and Kahn appealing to the The main goal of this paper is to illustrate how to obtain
concept of Glauber’s coherent states as a set of basis states new properties concerning this problem when the complete
关5兴. This formulation allows the use of classical concepts to motion of the particle is considered, i.e., the free motion
describe electron orbits, even containing all quantum effects along the z axis 共in the magnetic field direction兲, and the
关5兴. In a previous effort, this approach was used to obtain the transverse motion. Thus, we can supply the exact Wehrl en-
Wehrl entropy 关6,7兴 and Fisher information 关8兴 with the pur- tropy and Fisher information starting from a revised version
pose of studying the thermodynamics of the Landau diamag- of calculations. From this kind of analysis, a likely range of
netism problem, namely, a free spinless electron in a uniform validity of the present formulation is derived.
magnetic field 关9兴. In such contribution the authors focused We will start our present endeavor defining the Hamil-
only in the transverse motion of a particle. For this reason, it
was necessary to normalize the Husimi distribution in order tonian Ĥ = Ĥt + Ĥl for a particle of mass m and charge q in a
to arrive to a consistent expression for semiclassical mea- magnetic field H, where Ĥt = ប⍀共N̂ + 1 / 2兲 describes the
sures 关9–11兴. transverse motion, being ⍀ = qH / mc the cyclotron frequency
Certainly, because the relevant effects seem to come only 关5兴 and N̂ the number operator. In addition, the Hamiltonian
from the transverse motion, several efforts are made to de- Ĥl = p̂z2 / 2m represents a longitudinal one-dimensional free
scribe this problem in two dimensions 关3,4,9–13兴. Further- motion. After constructing a coherent state basis, a possible
more, since the discovery of interesting phenomena, as the way to define the Husimi function ␩, for the complete mo-
quantum Hall effect, there has been much interest in under- tion, is given by
standing the dynamics of electrons confined to move in two
dimensions in the presence of a magnetic field perpendicular ␩共x,px ;y,py ;pz兲 = 具␣, ␰,kz兩␳ˆ 兩␣, ␰,kz典, 共1兲
to the motion plane 关13兴. The confinement is possible at the
interface between two materials, typically a semiconductor where ␳ˆ is the thermal density operator and the set 兵兩␣ , ␰ , kz典其
and an insulator, where a quantum well that traps the par- represents the coherent states for the motion in three dimen-
sions. Taking the direct product 兩␣ , ␰ , kz典 ⬅ 兩␣ , ␰典 丢 兩kz典, the
set 兵兩␣ , ␰典其 corresponds to the coherent states of the trans-
*fpennini@ucn.cl verse motion and 兵兩kz典其 to the longitudinal motion. Therefore,

scurilef@ucn.cl the thermal density operator is given by

1539-3755/2010/81共4兲/041134共5兲 041134-1 ©2010 The American Physical Society


OLIVARES, PENNINI, AND CURILEF PHYSICAL REVIEW E 81, 041134 共2010兲

1
Z
ˆ
␳ˆ = e−␤共Ĥl+Ht兲 , 共2兲 Wl = − 冕 dzdpz
h
␩l共pz兲ln ␩l共pz兲, 共9兲

where ␤ = 1 / kBT, kB the Boltzmann constant and T the tem-


perature. Besides, Z is the partition function for the particle
total motion. If Z is separated in a similar way as other physi-
Wt = − 冕 d 2␣ d 2␰
4 ␲ 2ᐉ H4 ␩t共x,px ;y,p y 兲ln ␩t共x,px ;y,p y 兲, 共10兲
cal properties are separated, it is possible to assure that
Z = ZlZt, where Zt is the contribution for the transverse mo- where, as before, the subindex l stands for the longitudinal
tion and Zl the contribution for the one-dimensional free mo- motion and t the transverse.
tion. Thus, the Husimi function 关14兴 is written as After evaluating the respective integrals in Eqs. 共9兲 and
共10兲, it is feasible to identify the two particular entropies

冉冊
2
e−␤pz /2m
␩=
ZlZt n,m
兺 e−␤ប⍀共n+1/2兲兩具n,m兩␣, ␰典兩2 . 共3兲 Wl =
1
+ ln
L
, 共11兲
2 ␭
where Zt = Am⍀ / 关4␲ប sinh共␤ប⍀ / 2兲兴, being L the length,
A = ␲R2 the area for cylindrical geometry 关5兴, and Wt = 1 − ln共1 − e−␤ប⍀兲 + ln共g兲, 共12兲
Zl = 共L / h兲共2␲mkBT兲1/2 关5兴. In addition, the matrix element where ␭ = h / 共2␲mkBT兲1/2 is the mean thermal wavelength of
兩具n , m 兩 ␣ , ␰典兩2 represents the probability of finding the elec- the particle and g = A / 2␲ᐉH
2
stands for the degeneracy of a
tron in the coherent state 兩␣ , ␰典 and we can find its expression Landau level 关16兴. Indeed, Eq. 共11兲 coincides with the clas-
as defined previously 关15兴. sical entropy for a free particle in one dimension. Equation
It should be noticed that the distribution ␩ can be written 共12兲 is the exact result 关9兴 for the transverse motion and
as follows: possesses a form for the Wehrl entropy close to the harmonic
␩ = ␩l共pz兲␩t共x,px ;y,py兲, 共4兲 oscillator entropy, with the exception of a term associated
with the degeneracy.
where ␩ has been separated as a function of two distribu-
tions, namely, ␩l = ␩l共pz兲 and ␩t = ␩t共x , px ; y , py兲. The depen-
II. DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
dence on the variable z has been missed due to the explicit
form of the Hamiltonian Ĥl. Accordingly, after summing in Although the total Wehrl entropy is expressed simply as
Eq. 共3兲 we find follows:

␩l =
Zl
2
e−␤pz /2m
, 共5兲 Wtotal =
3
2
− ln共1 − e−␤ប⍀兲 + ln共g兲 + ln
L

, 冉冊 共13兲

we notice that some of its properties are directly derived


2␲ប −␤ប⍀兲兩␣兩2/2ᐉ2 from Eqs. 共11兲 and 共12兲. First, as we commented before, Wl
␩t = 共1 − e−␤ប⍀兲e−共1−e H, 共6兲 coincides with the classical entropy for the free motion in
Am⍀
one dimension. From this glance, we can add that Wl has to
where the length ᐉH = 共បc / qH兲1/2 is the classical radius of the be nonnegative, Wl ⱖ 0 at all temperatures. This last condi-
ground-state Landau orbit 关5兴. From expressions 共5兲 and 共6兲, tion imposes a minimum temperature, given by
we emphasize again that ␩l共pz兲 describes the free motion of
the particle in the magnetic field direction and ␩t共x , px ; y , py兲 h2
T0 = , 共14兲
the Landau levels due to the circular motion in a transverse 2␲mekBL2
plane to the magnetic field. Consequently Eqs. 共4兲–共6兲 to- where e = 2.718 281 828. The standard behavior of Wl obli-
gether contain the complete description of the system. We gates the system to take high values of temperature, wher-
noticed both distributions are naturally normalized in a stan- ever the temperature T ought to be greater than T0, in such
dard form, i.e., case the conduct of the system is classical. This is equivalent

冕 dzdpz
h
␩l共pz兲 = 1, 共7兲
to assert that, if T / T0 ⱖ 1, the length of a thermal wave ␭
lower than the average of the spacing among particles and
quantum considerations are not relevant 关17兴. In addition, T0
and only depends on the size of the system and does not depend
on other external or internal physical parameters such as

冕 d 2␣ d 2␰
4 ␲ 2ᐉ H4 ␩t共x,px ;y,p y 兲 = 1. 共8兲
transverse area, external magnetic field, charge of the par-
ticle, etc. If the system is large then the minimum tempera-
ture is low. However, modern electronic systems has junc-
In consequence, both Eqs. 共5兲 and 共6兲, under conditions 共7兲 tions where L is practically zero. In such case the required
and 共8兲, bring a promising way to get the exact form of the minimum temperature to make applicable our description is
Wehrl entropy. Furthermore, using the additivity as the most numerically high enough 关18兴.
basic property of the entropy, we can state Wtotal = Wl + Wt. Nevertheless, the entropy associated with transverse mo-
Hence, tion satisfies Wt ⱖ 1 + ln共g兲 for all temperatures in the system

041134-2
THERMODYNAMICS IN A COMPLETE DESCRIPTION OF… PHYSICAL REVIEW E 81, 041134 共2010兲

of a particle in a magnetic field where the symmetry is polar,


which is almost the Lieb condition for systems in one dimen-
sion 关19兴 with an additional term associated with the degen-
eracy g. Roughly speaking, the transverse motion is bidimen-
sional, but in the Landau approach the quantum motion of
the particle in a magnetic field is reduced to a degenerate
spectrum in one dimension. This degeneracy essentially re-
covers the physics of the missing dimension. Resuming the
discussion of the behavior of the Wehrl entropy, it is not
plausible to adventure any conclusion about the applicability
of the present treatment because the Lieb condition is always
satisfied. This is the main problem stems from the restricted
vision presented in other contributions over this topic which (a)
only put its emphasis on the transverse motion 关5,9–11兴 and
represent the main difference from the vision obtained in that
other contributions that discuss this topic. From the com-
bined reasoning of both motions we conclude that the present
description, this is the calculation of Wt, has sense when the
imposition over the temperature is satisfied. Under T0 the
behavior is intrinsically anomalous and the present proposal
is not applicable.

A. High temperature approximation


If we consider kBT Ⰷ ប⍀, we can apply the first
order of approximation as ln关g / 共1 − e−␤ប⍀兲兴 ⬇ ln共AT / T0L2兲.
Indeed, taking into account that the thermal wavelength (b)
can be rewritten in terms of the temperature T0 this way
␭ = L共eT0 / T兲1/2, the expression 共13兲 after a bit of algebra re- FIG. 1. The total Wehrl entropy is depicted as a function of 共a兲
duces to the temperature and 共b兲 the magnetic field. It is emphasized that the

冉 冊 冉 冊
total Wehrl entropy is shown in 共a兲 at different values of the mag-
共1兲 3 T A netic field greater than H0 and in 共b兲 at several fixed values of
Wtotal ⬇ ln + ln 2 . 共15兲 temperature greater than T0. Besides, it is shown in 共a兲 a natural
2 T0 L
bound for the temperature when we force Wtotal to satisfy the Lieb
Considering that V = AL in Eq. 共15兲, the total Wehrl entropy bound and in 共b兲 the linear behavior of the Wehrl entropy for high
can be expressed as follows: values of temperature.

共1兲
Wtotal =
3
2
冉 冊V
+ ln 3 .

共16兲 increases as the magnetic field increases too. Consequently,
at extremely high temperatures as expected, the slope of the
This is a particular expression for the entropy of a free par- present linear dependence tends to zero apparently taking a
ticle in three dimensions related to the motion of a charged constant value close to the corresponding classical entropy of
particle into a region of the magnetic field making mention the free particle in three dimensions.
of some geometrical properties of the system.
In second order of approximation for high temperatures,
B. Low temperature approximation
considering the special condition A ⬃ L2, Wehrl entropy is
expressed as follows: The lower bound of temperature is related to T / T0 → 1+,

冉 冊
because this approach does not consider temperature values
共2兲 T0 3 3 T T0 共1兲 under T0. The total Wehrl entropy is reduced to logarithm
Wtotal ⬇ g + + ln = g + Wtotal . 共17兲
T 2 2 T0 T behavior of the magnetic field. This tendency is shown in
Fig. 1 through a solid line.
In Fig. 1, according to current approach, the trend of the
To study what occurs close to zero temperature, in accor-
Wehrl entropy is depicted as a function of certain values of
dance with Eq. 共14兲, we need to take systems with L → ⬁ and
T / T0 ⱖ 1 and H / H0 ⱖ 1. As explained before, the Wehrl en-
after this consideration the transverse entropy of Eq. 共12兲 can
tropy takes values that are permitted by the Lieb condition,
be seen as follows:
namely, W ⱖ 1. This fact is shown in Fig. 1共a兲 and 1共b兲.
Particularly, in Fig. 1共b兲, the linear dependence of the total +
WT→0
t = 1 + ln共g兲. 共18兲
Wehrl entropy on the magnetic field at fixed temperature is
evident. According to Eq. 共16兲 the slope decreases as tem- As we discussed before, this Wehrl entropy is also a kind of
perature increases, which is graphically shown for T / T0 harmonic oscillator entropy and the lower bound complies
= 15 and 20. This fact illustrates why the disorder slowly with being greater than a bound limiting value of the tem-

041134-3
OLIVARES, PENNINI, AND CURILEF PHYSICAL REVIEW E 81, 041134 共2010兲

perature, which has been suggested by Wehrl and shown by III. FISHER INFORMATION MEASURE
Lieb, W ⱖ 1 关19兴. Starting from this condition it must arrive VERSUS DEGENERACY
to the following inequality for the magnetic field
Here is proposed a compact expression for the transverse
g ⱖ 1, 共19兲 Fisher information measure. We take into account a special
way, as formerly developed 关23兴, a form given by

冉 冊
where g = qAH / hc also accounts for the ratio between the
flux of the magnetic field HA and the quantum of the mag-
netic flux given by hc / q = 4.14⫻ 10−7 关gauss/ cm2兴 关22兴.
It = 冕 d 2␣ d 2␰
2 4 t
4␲ ᐉH
␩ 共␣兲
⳵ ln ␩t共␣兲
⳵␣
2
. 共23兲
Then the inequality 共19兲 adopts the form
After introducing the known expression for ␩t, we arrive to
1 hc
Hⱖ = H0 . 共20兲 2
A q It = 共1 − e−␤ប⍀兲. 共24兲
ᐉH
2

Therefore, the quantity H0 = hc / Aq becomes a bound limiting We notice this measure has a space dimension 共L兲−2. Thus, It
field that represents the minimum value for the external mag- quantifies the ability for estimating the parameter ␣ 关5兴,
netic field. To study what occurs close to zero magnetic field which represents the radio of the circular orbit of the coher-
we need to take systems with A → ⬁. ent states. Indeed, Eq. 共24兲 shows a linear dependence that
For finite values of A and H lower than H0 is manifested the parameter It exhibits with the magnetic field through the
the Haas–van Alphen effect, which describes oscillations in constant ᐉH2
at low temperature. Then, combining Eqs. 共24兲
the magnetization because at temperatures low enough the and 共21兲 with the definition of ᐉH we obtain
particles will tend to occupy the lowest energy states.
Whereas if the value of the magnetic field decreases a less 4␲␯
number of particles can be in the lowest state due to degen- It = 共1 − e−␤ប⍀兲, 共25兲
A
eracy is directly proportional to H 关16兴. Then, the transverse
Wehrl entropy Wt is well defined for values of the magnetic which represents the quantization of the Fisher information
field over H0, this is H / H0 ⱖ 1 and/or g → 1+. measure. From Eq. 共25兲, we can see that Fisher information
We can assert that this description of the system is not exponentially decreases as temperature increases. Beside, the
quantum, we say that it is semiclassical; for instance, it does growth of the starting value directly depends on the factor ␯.
not contain the Haas–van Alphen effect, the same condition The larger is ␯, the higher is the Fisher information at all
marks the beginning of one description and the ending of the temperatures. This gain of the ability for estimating the pa-
other. rameter ␣ is due to the degeneracy via the factor ␯. Thus
Other relevant effect that emerges from the Landau quan-
4␲␯
tization 关20兴 is the quantum Hall effect 关21兴 which is a ⱕ It ⬍ 0. 共26兲
quantum-mechanical version of the Hall effect 关13兴, ob- A
served in two-dimensional electron systems subjected to low In addition, with the purpose to describe the complete
temperatures and strong magnetic fields. The degeneracy is motion, we consider now the Fisher information measure for
given by 关22兴 the longitudinal movement, this is
␾ = ␯␾0 ,
where ␾0 = hc / q is the quantum of the magnetic flux. The
共21兲
Il = 冕 dzdpz
h
␩l共pz兲 冉
⳵ ln ␩l共pz兲
⳵ pz
冊 2
, 共27兲

factor ␯ is related to the “filling factor” that takes integer where pz is the parameter to be considered and previously
values 共␯ = 1 , 2 , 3 , . . .兲. The discovery of the fractional quan- ignored 关9兴. Writing ␩l into the above equation, we get
tum Hall effect 关12兴 extend these values to rational fractions
共␯ = 1 / 3 , 1 / 5 , 5 / 2 , 12/ 5 , . . .兲. The integer quantum Hall ef- ␤
fect is simply explained in terms of the conductivity quanti- Il = . 共28兲
m
zation ␴ = ␯q2 / h. However, the fractional quantum Hall ef-
fect relies on other phenomena related to interactions. This particular result coincides with the one-dimensional
Consistently, we see that the degeneracy is equal to ␯, which Fisher measure for the classical free particle 关24兴. Finally, it
must be greater than 1 due to the inequality 共19兲 obtaining an is emphasized that the total Fisher measure is constructed
infinite family of Wehrl entropies multiplying Eq. 共25兲 by Eq. 共28兲.

Wt = 1 − ln共1 − e␤ប⍀兲 + ln ␯ . 共22兲 IV. CONCLUDING REMARKS

Again, Eq. 共19兲 provides the limiting value of ␯ and, as be- In the present contribution, we have widely discussed the
fore, the transverse entropy always satisfies the Lieb bound behavior of several thermodynamical quantities whereas a
for all temperatures and large enough systems when the complete vision in phase space is adopted. When only the
quantum Hall effect is manifested at least for the integer transverse motion is considered, diverse difficulties appear in
quantum Hall effect. Conversely, fractional values of ␯ less the corresponding interpretation of results, specifically, a
than 1 are left out the present approach. non-normalized Husimi distribution 关9兴 is obtained. In the

041134-4
THERMODYNAMICS IN A COMPLETE DESCRIPTION OF… PHYSICAL REVIEW E 81, 041134 共2010兲

present work we solve the problem by considering the com- tized version 关Eq. 共25兲兴 of the transverse Fisher information,
plete motion of the particle. As a consequence we obtain a which is inverse to the area. Furthermore, we have found the
normalized Husimi distribution in a natural way and all ther- longitudinal Fisher information 关Eq. 共28兲兴 inverse to the tem-
modynamic quantities are well defined. In this instance, we perature.
have calculated the semiclassical total Wehrl entropy as a Finally, we assert that our semiclassical description con-
sum of two terms, one for the transverse motion and the stitutes a useful framework to illustrate problems related to
other for the longitudinal motion. Indeed, the total Wehrl size effects, role of boundaries and other typical anomalies
entropy has been expressed in terms of the cyclotron fre- derived from the size of the system, which are refereed to
quency, the mean thermal wavelength and, the degeneracy of two parameters as A and L and they explicitly appear in the
the Landau levels 关Eq. 共13兲兴. We have analyzed two limit form of the T0, H0, etc. In addition, the zero temperature can
cases. At high temperatures, we have associated the semi- be achieved only if the length of the system L is large
classical entropy with the geometrical properties of the sys- enough, otherwise physical properties strongly depend on the
tem and with the temperature T0 such that this approach has size of the system.
sense 关Eq. 共15兲兴. At low temperatures, we have found the
minimum value of the external magnetic field that depends ACKNOWLEDGMENT
on the transversal area. Moreover, from the quantization of
the quantum Hall effect, we have obtained a family of quan- This work has been financially supported in part by FON-
tized Wehrl entropies 关Eq. 共22兲兴. Also, we have given a quan- DECYT Grant No. 1080487.

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