A good conceptual starting point is to like the example that is mentioned at The Harvest of a Century by Siegmund Brandt (2008).
Consider a system with 2 particles and 3 states. Remember that:
- in quantum statistics (Bose-Einstein statistics and Fermi-Dirac statistics), particles are indistinguishable, therefore, we might was well call both of them
A
, as opposed toA
andB
from non-quantum statistics - in Bose-Einstein statistics, two particles may occupy the same state. In Fermi-Dirac statistics
Therefore, all the possible way to put those two particles in three states are for:
- Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution: both A and B can go anywhere:
State 1 State 2 State 3 AB AB AB A B B A A B B A A B B A - Bose-Einstein statistics: because A and B are indistinguishable, there is now only 1 possibility for the states where A and B would be in different states.
State 1 State 2 State 3 AA AA AA A A A A A A - Fermi-Dirac statistics: now states with two particles in the same state are not possible anymore:
State 1 State 2 State 3 A A A A A A
Both Bose-Einstein statistics and Fermi-Dirac statistics tend to the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution in the limit of either:TODO: show on forumulas. TODO experimental data showing this. Please.....
- high temperature
- low concentrations