General Astrophysics 1 - Tutorial 1 - Equation of state,

Black-body radiation and the Adiabatic index

Ron Zheleznykov
March 2023

1 Equation of state
In astrophysics we deal with different kinds of gas-like systems. These gases may consist of dust, photons, or
even stars- depending on our point of interest. These gases posses internal energy u (for the specific case (=per
unit mass) it is denoted by ϵ), and exert an outward pressure P on their surroundings. The equation that relates
the two is called the equation of state:
P = w · u, (1)
where w is a constant. Let us find that constant in different scenarios.
p) = d⃗dN
Introducing n(⃗ pdV (i.e. the number of particles in a given momentum range [⃗
p, p⃗ + d⃗
p] per unit
volume), we can write the internal energy as:
Z
dU
u= = E(⃗ p) d3 p.
p) n(⃗ (2)
dV
For the pressure, let us start from looking on the impulse that one particle with momentum p⃗ exerts on a wall.
Assuming elastic scattering, from the conservation of momentum:

J ≡ F dt = dp = 2p cosθ, (3)

where θ is the angle between p̂ and the normal to the wall. The number of particles in a given momentum range
with normal velocity component v(⃗ p) · cosθ hitting the wall in a time dt is:

p)d3 p = v(⃗
dN = V n(⃗ p) d3 p.
p) · cosθ dtdA · n(⃗ (4)

Where V is the volume from which these particles can reach the surface element dA of the wall in time dt. Thus
we can write the pressure as:
Ftot dN · F
dP = = = v(⃗ p) · cos2 θ · 2p · n(⃗
p) d3 p (5)
dA dA
Z
P = 2v(⃗ p) · p · cos2 θ · n(⃗p) d3 p (6)

Let’s assume that the number density is isotropic, i.e.

Z
n(p) = n(⃗ p) dΩ = 4π n(⃗
p). (7)

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Substituting (mind the integration limits- we assume that the incident particles that hit the surface come from
one of its sides),
Z ∞ Z 2π Z 1
1 ∞
Z
1 2 2
P = 2v(p) · p · cos θ · n(p) d(cosθ) dϕ p dp = v(p) · n(p) p3 dp (8)
4π 0 0 0 3 0
p p2
Considering the classic case, v = m, E= 2m , we get:
∞
p4
Z
u= n(p) dp (9)
0 2m
∞
p4
Z
1 2
P = · n(p) dp = u (10)
3 0 m 3
For the ultra-relativistic case, v = c, E = pc, we get:
Z ∞
u= p3 c n(p) dp (11)
0
Z ∞
1 1
P = p3 c n(p) dp = u (12)
3 0 3
Another useful way to write the pressure is in terms of the average velocity of the particles:
Z
1 m

P = m v 2 n (p) p2 dp ≡ n v 2 , (13)
3 3
R 2
v n(p) p2 dp
where ⟨v 2 ⟩ ≡ , while n ≡ n(p) p2 dp.
R
n

2 Blackbody Radiation
From the above we see that knowing n(p) is necessary to calculate P and u. We shall investigate the important
case of photons in thermal equilibrium with their surrounding. This is the case of a black-body- a body that
absorbs all EM radiation, and emits it in a spectrum that is dependant only on its temperature. First, we calculate
the volume density:
d3 x d3 p E 2 dE
Z Z Z
N 1 2 2 E=pc 8π
n= = 2· n̄ = n̄ · 4πp dp = (14)
V V h3 h3 h3 c3 exp(E/kB T ) − 1
3 3
Where 2 is the degeneracy due to polarizations, dN = d xh3d p is the number of states in a volume element of
the phase space, and n̄ is the occupation number for a state. To calculate u:
E 3 dE 4 4 Z
y 3 dy 4 4
π4
Z Z
8π 8πkB T 8πkB T
u = E n(E)dE = 3 3 = 3 3
= 3 3
· (15)
h c exp(E/kB T ) − 1 h c exp(y) − 1 h c 15
Yielding:
8π 5 kB4
erg
u= T 4 ≡ aSB T 4 , aSB ≃ 7.57 × 10−15 3 K−4 (16)
15 h c3
3 cm
Another (important) related constant is σsb = 4c asb ≃ 5.67×10−5 cmerg2 sec K
−4
. It is called the Stefan-Boltzmann
constant. It appears in the formula for the energy flux for blackbody radiation:
F = σsb T 4 , (17)
that we’ll derive the next tutorial.

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3 Earth-Sun thermal equilibrium
If we consider the Earth as a black-body in thermal equilibrium with the sun, estimate the global temperature of
our planet in terms of the temperature of the Sun’s surface, T⊙ , is radius, R⊙ , and the distance D between the
Earth and the Sun.

First, let’s review a few equations that you saw in class:

dE
L= (18)
dt
dE L
F = = (19)
dt dA 4πd2
 2
R
Ω ≈ πθ2 ≈ π (20)
d
Now, using 17, we know that the energy flux on the Sun’s surface is:

F⊙ (R⊙ ) = σsb T⊙4 (21)

To get the energy flux on the Earth’s surface, we divide the luminosity by the surface of a sphere with a radius
D:
L(R⊙ ) 2
σsb T⊙4 · 4πR⊙ R2
F⊙ (D) = 2
= 2
= σsb T⊙4 ⊙2 (22)
4πD 4πD D
Notice how the solid angle appears in the above equation. Next, because of thermal equilibrium, the luminosity
that the earth receives from the sun (LHS), should be equal to the luminosity that it emits (RHS):
2
2 R⊙ 2 (!)
F⊙ (D)πR⊕ = σsb T⊙4 πR⊕ = σsb T⊕4 4πR⊕
2
(23)
D2
Thus finally,
  12
R⊙
T⊕ = T⊙ (24)
2D
I encourage you to plug in the numbers and get an estimate of the result- Is it what were you expecting for? What
physical processes didn’t we take into account?

4 The Adiabatic Index

CP
The adiabatic index is defined as γ = C V
, the ratio between the heat capacity in constant volume and in constant
pressure. Let’s calculate it, and find out how it has earned its name.
In an adiabatic process there is no heat transfer from or to the system. We focus our attention on on a system of
an ideal, non interacting gas. We start from the first law of thermodynamics (dW = P dV is work done by the
system):
dU = δQ − dW (25)
δQ = dU + P dV (26)

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where δQ is the heat transferred to the system,
 P is the pressure, V is the volume and U is the internal energy.
The heat capacity is defined as CV,P = δQ dT , where the subscripts are for constant volume or pressure,
V,P
respectively.
To compute CV we need to relate U to T . To find U (T ) we will use the equipartition theorem, which states that
each quadratic degree of freedom in the Hamiltonian contributes, on average, in thermal equilibrium, 21 kB T of
energy for each particle. If we denote f as the number of DOF, then we can write the total internal energy for
N particles as
f
U = N kB T. (27)
2
Now the calculation of CV is straight forward:
 
δQ dU f
CV = = = N kB (28)
dT V dT 2
To express CP we need to find P (T ). Inserting 27 with f = 3 for an ideal gas into 10 we get the law of ideal
gases:
P V = N kB T (29)
Taking its differential:
P dV = N kB dT − V dP, (30)
and inserting to 26:
δQ = dU + N kB dT − V dP, (31)
We can calculate CP :    
δQ dU f
CP = = + N kB = 1 + N kB . (32)
dT P dT 2
Now we can relate the adiabatic index for ideal gases to the number of excited degrees of freedom
CP 2
γ= =1+ . (33)
CV f

For the final step we shall insert dU = CV dT , P = N kB VT = (CP − CV ) VT , and δQ = 0 (for an adiabatic
process) into 26, to get:
T
0 = CV dT + (CP − CV ) dV. (34)
V
CP
Defining γ = C V
, the above equation becomes:
dT dV
+ (γ − 1) = 0 → ln(T V γ−1 ) = Const (35)
T V
This implies (using 29):
T V γ−1 = Const (36)
γ γ
PV = Const → P = Kρ (37)
Eq. 37 is called the "Polytropic equation". It describes any expansion and compression processes which
maintain the stated relation and include heat transfer (poly = many, tropic = related to change). Notice that
CP
γ = C V
only for an adiabatic process, where there is no heat transfer. In this case it is called the "Adiabatic
index", and it is related only to the number DOF. In general there is heat transfer, and γ depends on the system
and doesn’t have fixed values. In that case it is called the "Polytropic index".