We see that the average excitation quantum number of an oscillator i

z s exp-shw/~)
'
(n) =
z eT(-sfiolr)
The summations in (5)are

with x = exp(-ftwl~). Thus we may rewrite (5) as the Plauck distribution:

1
(n) = -x-- -
1 - x exp(fw/7) - 1

Nomal Mode Enumeration

The energy of a collection of oscillators of frequencies on;, in th
equilibrium is found from (1) and (2):

It is usually convenient to replace the summation over K by an integral

pose that the crystal has DP(o)domodes of a given polarization p in th
quency range o to o + d o . Then the energy is

The lattice heat capacity is found by differentiation with respect to tem

ture. Let x = h o / ~= ho/kBT:then 8U/aT gives
x2 exp x
~ ~ = k p, ~ I d o ~ (expx
, , ( o-) '

The central prohlem is to find D(w), the number of modes per un

quency range. This function is called the density of modes or, more often
sity of states.

Density of States in One Dimension

Consider the boundary value prohlem for vibrations of a one-dimen
+
line (Fig. 2) of length L carrying N 1 particles at separation a. We su