Crossover from Quantum to Boltzmann Statistics for Free Particles in a Single Harmonic Trap

Abstract

With invoking analytical formulae in number theory and numerical calculations, we calculate the number of microstates in microcanonical ensemble for free particles in a single harmonic trap which in whole space defines a thermodynamic system but not a spatially homogeneous one. Once the number of excitation quanta m is larger than the square of the particle number N 2 as m O(N 2 ) when N 1, the number of microcanonical microstates for an ideal, harmonically trapped Bose or Fermi gas gradually converge to the Boltzmann microcanonical microstates for the classical particles with a proper consideration of the indistinguishability.