Abstract
Many applications of quantum mechanics require the concept of density of states. The notion of density of states is not entirely unique. Depending on the context and the requirements of the problem at hand, it most often refers to the number of quantum states per volume and per unit of energy, or to the number of states in a volume unit d 3 k in k space, and for both notions there are several variants of the density of states. Therefore the purpose of this chapter is not only to introduce the concept of density of states, but also to enumerate all the different definitions which are commonly used in physics.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Dick, R. (2012). The Density of States. In: Advanced Quantum Mechanics. Graduate Texts in Physics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8077-9_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8077-9_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-8076-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-8077-9
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)