Appendix D

A Few Applications of Quantum Statistics

D.1.a.  Introduction

Maxwell–Boltzmann (MB) statistics has been used in deducing the thermodynamic properties of a system of atoms/molecules at temperatures where quantum effects are negligible. Quantum mechanical ideas such as the allowed energy levels and their degeneracies have been useful in the evaluation of partition functions. There are a few specialised cases in which only quantum statistics can be applied. We shall consider only Bose–Einstein (BE) condensation and electrons in metals. The Nobel prize in physics for the year 2001 has been jointly awarded to Wolfgang Ketterle (M.I.T), Carl E. Weimann (University of Colorado) and Eric A Cornell (NIST) for their achievement of Bose–Einstein ...

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