- PHYS 445 Lecture 26 - Black-body radiation I
- 26 - 1
Lecture 26 - Black-body radiation I
What's Important:
··
number density energy density
Text: Reif
In our previous discussion of photons, we established that the mean number of photons with energy is
i
1
n =
(26.1)
i
eß - 1
i
Here, the questions that we want to address about photons are:
···
what is their number density what is their energy density what is their pressure?
Number density n
Eq. (26.1) is written in the language of discrete states. The first thing we need to do is replace the sum by an integral over photon momentum states:
Si ® òd 3p
Of course, it isn't quite this simple because the density-of-states issue that we introduced before: for every spin state there is one phase space state for every h 3, so the proper replacement more like
Si ® (1/h 3) òd 3p òd 3r
The units now work: the left hand side is a number, and so is the right hand side. But this expression ignores spin - it just deals with the states in phase space. For every photon momentum, there are two ways of arranging its polarization (i.e., the orientation of its electric or magnetic field vectors):
where the photon momentum vector is perpendicular to the plane. Thus, we have
Si ® (2/h 3) òd 3p òd 3r.
(26.2)
Assuming that our system is spatially uniform, the position integral can be replaced by the volume
òd 3r = V.
© 2001 by David Boal, Simon Fraser University. All rights reserved; further resale or copying is strictly prohibited.
PHYS 445 Lecture 26 - Black-body radiation I The total number of photons is then
26 - 2
- V
- d3p
N =2
- .
- (26.3)
ß
h3 e - 1
ò
- This integral is written in terms of energy
- and momentum p; for photons, these
quantities are related through Einstein's relation (m = 0)
= pc.
Dividing N by V gives the integrated number density of photons ng, which can be written in an integral form as
2
h3 d 3p n =
(26.4)
ßpc
ò
e
- 1
or as with
[number per unit volume between p and p+dp] = ng(p) d 3p
2 d3p n (p)d3p =
- .
- (26.5)
h3 eßpc - 1
Let's integrate Eq. (26.4) for an isotropic system, where òanglesd 3p = 4pp 2dp:
8p p2dp n =
.
ßpc
- h3
- e
- 1
ò
Changing variables to x = ßpc gives
¥
8p
x2dx n =
(ßhc)3 0 e - 1
x
ò
The integral has the form of a Reimann Zeta function, and is
¥
x2dx
=2 (3) =2 · 1.202
x
ò
0 e - 1
Thus,
3
æk T hc
öø
B
n =1.202· 16p
(26.6)
è
Example
The universe is filled with relic radiation left over from the Big Bang with a temperature of 2.7 K. What is ng of this radiation?
ö3
ø
1.38 ´ 10-23 · 2.7
æç
n =1.202· 16p
6.63 ´ 10-34 · 3.0 ´ 108
è
= 4.0´ 108 m- 3 =400cm- 3
© 2001 by David Boal, Simon Fraser University. All rights reserved; further resale or copying is strictly prohibited.
- PHYS 445 Lecture 26 - Black-body radiation I
- 26 - 3
Energy density u
We saw that the number of photons per unit volume between p and p+dp is
2 d3p h3 eßpc - 1 n (p)d3p =
.
3
These photons have an energy of pc, giving an energy density ug(p)d p in this momentum range of
2 d 3p h3 eßpc - 1 u (p)d3p =pc
.
Taking the integral of this over momentum gives the total energy density ug for an isotropic system,
8p
p2dp
8pc p3dp
u = pc
=
.
h3 eßpc - 1 h3 e
- 1
ßpc
- ò
- ò
where òanglesd 3p = 4pp 2dp as before. Once again changing variables to x = ßpc
4¥
4 ¥
8pc ækT x3dx ækT x3dx
- öø ò
- ø ò
ö
- u =
- =8phc
x
- h3
- c
0 ex - 1
hc 0 e - 1
- è
- è
The integral is equal to
¥
4
x3dx
p
=
.
x
ò
0 e - 1 15
Thus,
8p (pkBT)4 u =
- .
- (26.7)
15 (h c)3
Example u =
Find the energy density of photons at room temperature T = 293 K.
8p (p· 1.38 ´ 10- 23 · 293)4
=5.5 ´ 10- 6 J/m3.
15 (6.63 ´ 10-34 · 3.0 ´ 108)3
Mean energy per photon
From Eqs. (26.6) and (26.7) we can determine the mean energy per photon
8p (kBT)4
5
·
4
15 (h c)3 u n
p
- =
- =
kBT =2.7kBT
(26.8)
(kBT )3
1.202· 30
1.202· 16p
(hc)3
Notice once again how kBT sets the energy scale.
© 2001 by David Boal, Simon Fraser University. All rights reserved; further resale or copying is strictly prohibited.