Shape- and topology-dependent heat capacity of few-fermion systems

Abstract

Thermal properties of few-fermion () systems are investigated. The dependence of the heat capacity on the topology and shape of the cavity containing the particles is analysed. It is found that the maximum of the heat capacity, occuring at low discussed recently by Toutounji for a system with fermions, is even more visible for , but fades away for and . For large , the classical behaviour is obtained; however, when the heat capacity tends to zero exponentially, not linearly, as in macroscopic and even mesoscopic systems. The physical relevance of these results is discussed.

Keywords:

• low-dimensional nanomaterials
• thermodynamics
• statistical mechanics
• few body systems

Acknowledgments

The author is indebted to Prof. R.P. Lungu, for illuminating discussions and to PhD student R. Dragomir, for useful remarks. The financial support of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research (ANCS), through the ANCS project PN 09 37 01 06 and of JINR Dubna – IFIN-HH Magurele-Bucharest project no. 01-3-1072-2009/2013 are kindly acknowledged.