Force on a moving object in an ideal quantum gas

Journal article


Authors/Editors


Strategic Research Themes


Publication Details

Author listWittaya Kanchanapusakit, Pattarapon Tanalikhit

PublisherAmerican Association of Physics Teachers

Publication year2023

JournalAmerican Journal of Physics (0002-9505)

Volume number91

Issue number11

Start page932

End page935

Number of pages4

ISSN0002-9505

URLhttps://pubs.aip.org/aapt/ajp/article-abstract/91/11/932/2917284/Force-on-a-moving-object-in-an-ideal-quantum-gas?redirectedFrom=fulltext

LanguagesEnglish-United States (EN-US)


View on publisher site


Abstract

We consider a heavy external object moving in an ideal gas of light particles. Collisions with the gas particles transfer momentum to the object, leading to a force that is proportional to the object's velocity but in the opposite direction. In an ideal classical gas at temperature $T$, the force acting on the object is proportional to $\sqrt{T}$. Quantum statistics causes a deviation from the $\sqrt{T}$-dependence and shows that the force scales with $T^2$ at low temperatures. At $T=0$, the force vanishes in a Bose gas but is finite in a Fermi gas. 


Keywords

No matching items found.


Last updated on 2023-01-11 at 16:40