Year: 2002
Type: article
Abstract: Interactions never lower the ground state kinetic energy of a quantum system below the noninteracting value. However, at nonzero temperature, where the system occupies a thermal distribution of states, interactions can reduce the kinetic energy. This can be demonstrated from a first order weak coupling expansion. Simulations (both variational and restricted path integral Monte Carlo) of the electron gas model and dense hydrogen confirm this and show that in contrast to the ground state case, at nonzero temperature the population of low momentum states can be increased relative to the free Fermi distribution. This effect is not seen in simulations of liquid 3He.
Source: Physical Review Letters
Authors: Burkhard Militzer, E. L. Pollock
Institution: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2079301887