The one dimensional infinite square well of length L is a model for a one dimensional box. It is a standard model-system in quantum mechanics for which the solution for a single particle is well known. The levels are labeled by a single quantum number n and the energies are given by where is the potential energy level inside the box. Suppose now that instead of one particle in this box we have N particles in the box and that these particles are fermions with spin 1/2. Then not more than two particles can have the same energy, i.e., two particles can have the energy of , two other particles can have energy and so forth. The reason that two particles can have the same energy is that a particle can have a spin of 1/2 (spin up) or a spin of -1/2 (spin down), leading to two states for each energy level. In the configuration for which the total energy is lowest (the ground state), all the energy levels up to n=N/2 are occupied and all the higher levels are empty. Defining the reference for the Fermi energy to be , the Fermi energy is therefore given by for an even number of electrons (N), or an odd number of electrons (N-1).
Posted on: Sat, 29 Jun 2013 06:02:55 +0000
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