Energy fluctuation and discontinuity of specific heat

Abstract

Specific heat per particle ($c_v$) of an ideal gas, in many occasions, is interpreted as energy fluctuation per particle ($△{\epsilon }^2$) of the ideal gas through the relation: $△{\epsilon }^2=k{T}^2{c}_v$, where $k$ is the Boltzmann constant and $T$ is the temperature. This relationship is true only in the classical limit, and deviates significantly in the quantum degenerate regime. We have analytically explored quantum to classical crossover of this relationship, in particular, for 3-D free Bose and Fermi gases. We also have explored the same for harmonically trapped cases. We have obtained a hump of $△{\epsilon }^2/k{T}^2{c}_v^{(\text{cl})}$ around the condensation point for 3-D harmonically trapped Bose gas. We have discussed the possibility of occurring phase transition with discontinuity of heat capacity from existence of such a hump for other Bose and Fermi systems.

The core of the paper is a conjecture that links the existence of a maximum (hump) in the scaled energy fluctuations to the discontinuity of the specific heat. 6 pages, 3 figures. Published in Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment

References in corpus (6)

• Many-Body Physics with Ultracold Gases
• Theory of ultracold Fermi gases
• Bose-Einstein condensation of chromium
• Thermodynamic Measurements in a Strongly Interacting Fermi Gas
• Measuring The Heat Capacity in a Bose-Einstein Condensation using Global Variables
• Thermodynamics of quantum gases for the entire range of temperature