Tuesday, 13 November 2018

density operator - Does a statistical system go into a pure state as the temperature Tto0 (or betatoinfty)?


The density matrix ˆρ for a canonical ensemble is given by ˆρ=neβEn|nn|Z =eβE0Z[n=0|00|+n=1eβ(E1E0)|11|+n=2eβ(E2E0)|22|+...] where the sum over n, represents the sum over quantum states, not energy levels. Also note that since E0 is the ground state enrgy, the difference (EnE0)>0, for all n>0.


As T=0, or equivalently, β, only the first term in (2)contributes dominantly. The density matrix ˆρ goes to ˆρ1Zg(E0)eβE0|E0E0| where partition function Z goes to Zg(E0)eβE0 Here, g(En) represents the degeneracy of the nth energy level with energy eigenvalue En. With (1) and (2), the density matrix simplifies to ˆρ=|E0E0| so that ˆρ2=ˆρ. Therefore, the calculation implies that at T=0, the system goes to a pure state.


I don't understand this physically. There will be degeneracies in the ground state. Then why should the system settle down in a pure state? And which degenerate state will it settle down? Intuitively, at T=0, the system should be described by an ensemble every member of which are in the ground energy level but in different degenerate states.




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