Energy fluctuations of a finite free-electron Fermi gas

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A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä

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2016-08-18

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en

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Physical Review E, Volume 94, issue 2, pp. 1-4

Abstract

We discuss the energy distribution of free-electron Fermi-gas, a problem with a textbook solution of Gaussian energy fluctuations in the limit of a large system. We find that for a small system, characterized solely by its heat capacity C, the distribution can be solved analytically, and it is both skewed and it vanishes at low energies, exhibiting a sharp drop to zero at the energy corresponding to the filled Fermi sea. The results are relevant from the experimental point of view, since the predicted non-Gaussian effects become pronounced when C/kB 103 (kB is the Boltzmann constant), a regime that can be easily achieved for instance in mesoscopic metallic conductors at sub-kelvin temperatures.

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Pekola, J P, Muratore-Ginanneschi, P, Kupiainen, A & Galperin, Y M 2016, ' Energy fluctuations of a finite free-electron Fermi gas ', Physical Review E, vol. 94, no. 2, 022123, pp. 1-4 . https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.94.022123