A free spinless particle moving in two dimensions is confined to a square box of side L. By imposing periodic boundary conditions show that the number of states in the energy range ϵ→ϵ+dϵ is g(ϵ)dϵ, where
g(ϵ)=2πℏ2mL2
If, instead, the particle is an electron with magnetic moment μ moving in a constant external magnetic field H, show that
g(ϵ)={2πℏ2mL2,πℏ2mL2,−μH<ϵ<μHμH<ϵ
Let there be N electrons in the box. Explain briefly how to construct the ground state of the system. Let ϵ be the Fermi energy. Show that when ϵ>μH
N=πℏ2mL2ϵ.
Show also that the magnetic moment M of the system in its ground state is given by
M=πℏ2μ2mL2H
and that the ground state energy is
21mL2πℏ2N2−21MH