Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal

Home Assignment 2
PHY 306/604
Statistical Mechanics

Duration: .... ... Marks

1. What is the probability that a molecule in the cubical vessel lies in the
volume ∆V formed by two planes at z and z + dz ?

2. Evaluate the partition function at temperature T for a classical one di-

mensional oscillator. Hence find the mean energy of the oscillator.

3. Consider a system of N magnetic dipoles, each carrying a dipole moment

µ. The dipoles are fixed in space at their center but can rotate freely
about any axis passing through their center and perpendicular to the axis
of the dipole. The moment of inertia of each of the dipoles about any such
axis is I. The system is kept in thermal equilibrium with a heat bath of
temperature T . There is also an external uniform magnetic field B in z
direction.
(a) Choose appropriate coordinate and momenta for describing this sys-
tem and write down the Hamiltonian in terms of these coordinates and
momenta.
(b) Calculate free energy F , average energy and magnetization −∂F/∂B.

(Hint: First write down the kinetic energy of a dipole. Remember it can
only rotate about an axis perpendicular to it. Potential energy : when a
magnetic dipole is placed in a magnetic field the potential energy is given
by −~ ~ Now right the Lagrangian then the Hamiltonian.)
µ · B.

4. Consider a classical system of N noninteracting diatomic molecules en-

closed in a box of volume V at temperature T . The Hamiltonian of a
single molecule is given by,
1 2 1
H(p1 , p2 , r1 , r2 ) = (p + p22 ) + K|r1 − r2 |2 (1)
2m 1 2
where, p1 , p2 , r1 , r2 , are the momenta and position coordinates of the two
atoms in a molecule. Find Free energy, specific heat at constant volume
and mean square molecule diameter h|r1 − r2 |2 i.

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5. Consider a single molecule in a reserver of gas at temperature T .
• What is the dimension of phase space of a single molecule?
• What is the probability of finding the system in a phase space volume
element dΓ corresponding to energy E ? where dΓ = dx dy dz dpx dpy dpz
.
• Show that the probability of finding the particle with velocity be-
tween u and u + du in volume V can be written as,
2
4πV m3 e−βmu /2
dPu = u2 du, (2)
h3 Z
where Z is the partition function.
• Calculate Z from normalization condition on probability.
• Then show that,
 3/2
4 βm 2
dP (u) = √ e−βmu /2 2
u du. (3)
π 2

This is Maxwell distribution.

• Calculate average value of kinetic energy of the particle.

6. Calculate the average potential energy of a molecule of an ideal gas in

thermal equilibrium at absolute temperature T , contained in a cubical
box of length L, the only external field action on the gas being earth’s
uniform
h gravitational field. i
mgL
Ans : hU i = 1−e βmgL + kT

7. A cylinder of hight l and radius R is filled with a gas of N molecules each

of mass m. The cylinder rotates with an angular velocity ω about an axis
perpendicular to the base and passing through its centre. Determine the
density
h of the gas. i
N βmω 2
Ans : n(r) = 2πl(eβmω 2 R2 /2
−1)

8. Prove the equipartition theorem.

9. A simple pendulum with length l makes an angle θ with thepvertical, where

θ << 1. Show that it oscillates with a period given by 2π l/g. The pen-
dulum is now placed at rest and allowed to come into equilibrium with its
surroundings at temperature T . Derive an expression for hθ2 i.

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10. Polar rods: consider rod-shaped molecules with moment of inertia I and
a dipole moment µ. The contribution of the rotational degrees of freedom
to the Hamiltonian is given by
!
1 2
p2φ
Hrot = pθ + − µE cos θ, (4)
2I sin2 θ

where E is an external electric field. (φ ∈ [0, 2π], θ ∈ [0, π] are the az-
imuthal and polar angles, and pφ , pθ are the conjugate momenta.)

(a) Calculate the contribution of the rotational degrees of freedom of each

dipole to the classical partition function.
(b) Obtain the mean polarization P = hµ cosi > of each dipole.
(c) Find the zero field polarizability.
∂P
χT = |E=0 . (5)
∂E
(d) Calculate the rotational energy per particle (at finite E), and comment
on its high and low-temperature limits.
(e) Sketch the rotational heat capacity per dipole.

11. Molecular oxygen has a net magnetic spin S ~ of unity, that is, S z is quan-
tized to −1, 0, or+1. The Hamiltonian for an ideal gas of N such molecules
~
in a magnetic field B||ẑ is
N  2 
X p~i
H= − µBSiz , (6)
i=1
2m

where {~pi } are the center of mass momenta of the molecules. The corre-
sponding coordinates {~qi } are confined to a volume V . (Ignore all other
degrees of freedom.)
(a) Treating {~pi , ~qi } classically, but the spin degrees of freedom as quan-
tized, calculate the partition function, Z̃(T, N, V, B).
(b) What are the probabilities for Siz of a specific molecule to take on
values of −1, 0, +1 at a temperature T ?
(c) Find the average magnetic dipole moment. hM i/V , where M =
PN
µ i=1 Siz .
(d) Calculate the zero field susceptibility χ = ∂hM i/∂B|B=0 .

12. Compute the average energy and the heat capacity of a classical system of
N non-interacting particles in d spatial dimensions, that has a Hamiltonian
of the form
XN
H= Al |pl |s + Bl |ql |t . (7)
i=1

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 The parameters Al and Bl characterizes individual particles, while s and t
are positive integers, and the system is maintained at a fixed temperature
T . As a special case, obtain the average energy and heat capacity of N
three dimensional harmonic oscillators.

13. Find approximate expression for the partition function Z(T, L) for a sin-
gle quantum mechanical particle in an infinite one-dimensional square well
of width L in the limits of high and low temperatures. Obtain the heat
capacity cL and the equation of state f (T, P, L) = 0 in these limits.