Fermi

Dirac
distribution
SUBMITTED BY:
PUSHPANJALI PATEL
Y16273017
MSC III SEM

Department of Physics

Dr Harisingh Gour
central university Sagar
M.P
Maxwell Boltzmann
Distribution

INTRODUCTION
As the name suggests, this distribution is
attributed to Enrico Fermi, and Paul Dirac, as a
result of their work in 1926. Particles that display
Fermi-Dirac statistical predictions are referred to
as „Fermions‟. Fermi-Dirac statistics describes the
distribution of a collection of Fermions across
energy levels for a system in thermal equilibrium.
For our purposes Fermi-Dirac statistics is of
relevance since electrons qualify as Fermions. The
use of this statistical distribution will enable us to
decide what the electrons can do, can‟t do, and
will tend to do, in the solid.
Fermions follow quantum mechanical rules, are
identical and indistinguishable, and specifically
adhere to the Pauli‟s exclusion principle which
states that no two particles can occupy the same
quantum state at the same time. One of the
requirements that a particle needs to satisfy to be
a Fermion, is that it should have a half integer
spin. Electrons satisfy these requirements and are
therefore Fermions. The criterion of being
identical and indistinguishable implies that we are
unable to distinguish between cases where
electrons are swapped between energy levels,
leaving the total number of electrons at each
energy level unchanged. We are only able to
distinguish between situations where the
numbers of electrons occupying a state changes.
Within the framework of electrons being fermions,
and the total number of particles being constant,
the total volume of the system being constant, and
the total energy of the system being constant, we
wish to find out the probability that a state with
energy є is occupied.

Mathematical expression

 The number of ways of distributing ni particles

among the gi sublevels of an energy level is
given by:

 The number of ways that a set of occupation

numbers ni can be realized is the product of the
ways that each individual energy level can be
populated:
Fermi–Dirac distribution

For a system of identical fermions with

thermodynamic equilibrium, the average number of
fermions in a single-particle state i is given by
a logistic function, or sigmoid function: the Fermi–
Dirac (F–D) distribution,[11]
 where k is Boltzmann's constant, T is the
absolute temperature, εi is the energy of the
single-particle state i, and μ is the total chemical
potential.
At zero temperature, μ is equal to the Fermi
energy plus the potential energy per electron. For
the case of electrons in a semiconductor, μ, the
point of symmetry, is typically called the Fermi
level or electrochemical potential.[12][13]
The F–D distribution is only valid if the number of
fermions in the system is large enough so that
adding one more fermion to the system has
negligible effect on μ. Since the F–D distribution
was derived using the Pauli exclusion principle,
which allows at most one electron to occupy each
possible state, a result is that .
 Fermi–Dirac distribution
 

Temperature dependence for є>ᵘ

Fermi level
The Fermi level is the total chemical potential for
electrons and is usually denoted by µ or EF. The
Fermi level of a body is a thermodynamic quantity,
and its significance is the thermodynamic work
required to add one electron to the body (not
counting the work required to remove the electron
from wherever it came from). A precise
understanding of the Fermi level—how it relates to
electronic band structure in determining electronic
properties, how it relates to the voltage and flow of
charge in an electronic circuit—is essential to an
understanding of solid-state physics.

Limiting behavior
The Fermi-Dirac distribution approaches the
Maxwell Boltzmann Distribution in the limit of
high temperature and low particle density,
without the need for any ad hoc assumptions.

summary
Electrons qualify as Fermions, and we have derived
the Fermi-Dirac distribution, which applies to a
collection of fermions in thermal equilibrium. In the
next class we will examine the features of the Fermi-
Dirac distribution and see what these features imply.

References[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:a b Fermi, Enrico (1926). "Sulla
quantizzazione del gas perfetto
monoatomico". Rendiconti Lincei (in Italian). 3:
145–9., translated as Zannoni, Alberto (transl.)
(1999-12-14). "On the Quantization of the
Monoatomic Ideal Gas". arXiv:cond-
mat/9912229  [cond-mat.stat-mech].
2. ^ Jump up to:a b Dirac, Paul A. M. (1926). "On
the Theory of Quantum
Mechanics". Proceedings of the Royal Society
A. 112 (762): 661–
77. Bibcode:1926RSPSA.112..661D. doi:10.109
8/rspa.1926.0133. JSTOR 94692.
3. Jump up^ (Kittel 1971, pp. 249–50)
4. Jump up^ "History of Science: The Puzzle of
the Bohr–Heisenberg Copenhagen
Meeting". Science-Week. Chicago. 4 (20). 2000-
05-19. OCLC 43626035. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
5. Jump up^ Schücking: Jordan, Pauli, Politics,
Brecht and a variable gravitational
constant. In: Physics Today. Band 52, 1999,
Heft 10
6. Jump up^ Ehlers, Schuecking: Aber Jordan
war der Erste. In: Physik Journal. Band 1, 2002,
Heft 11
7. Jump up^ Dirac, Paul A. M. (1967). Principles
of Quantum Mechanics (revised 4th ed.).
 London: Oxford University Press. pp. 210–
1. ISBN 978-0-19-852011-5.
8. ^ Jump up to:a b Fowler, Ralph H. (December
1926). "On dense matter". Monthly Notices of
the Royal Astronomical Society. 87 (2): 114–
22. Bibcode:1926MNRAS..87..114F. doi:10.109
3/mnras/87.2.114.