In
mathematics
Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
, the complete Fermi–Dirac integral, named after
Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi (; 29 September 1901 – 28 November 1954) was an Italian and naturalized American physicist, renowned for being the creator of the world's first artificial nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1, and a member of the Manhattan Project ...
and
Paul Dirac
Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac ( ; 8 August 1902 – 20 October 1984) was an English mathematician and Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist who is considered to be one of the founders of quantum mechanics. Dirac laid the foundations for bot ...
, for an index ''j '' is defined by
:
This equals
:
where
is the
polylogarithm
In mathematics, the polylogarithm (also known as Jonquière's function, for Alfred Jonquière) is a special function of order and argument . Only for special values of does the polylogarithm reduce to an elementary function such as the natur ...
.
Its derivative is
:
and this derivative relationship is used to define the Fermi-Dirac integral for nonpositive indices ''j''. Differing notation for
appears in the literature, for instance some authors omit the factor
. The definition used here matches that in th
NIST DLMF
Special values
The closed form of the function exists for ''j'' = 0:
:
For ''x = 0'', the result reduces to
where
is the
Dirichlet eta function.
See also
*
Incomplete Fermi–Dirac integral
In mathematics, the incomplete Fermi-Dirac integral, named after Enrico Fermi and Paul Dirac, for an index j and parameter b is given by
:\operatorname_j(x,b) \overset \frac \int_b^\infty\! \frac\;\mathrmt
Its derivative is
:\frac\operatorname_j( ...
*
Gamma function
In mathematics, the gamma function (represented by Γ, capital Greek alphabet, Greek letter gamma) is the most common extension of the factorial function to complex numbers. Derived by Daniel Bernoulli, the gamma function \Gamma(z) is defined ...
*
Polylogarithm
In mathematics, the polylogarithm (also known as Jonquière's function, for Alfred Jonquière) is a special function of order and argument . Only for special values of does the polylogarithm reduce to an elementary function such as the natur ...
References
*
*
External links
GNU Scientific Library - Reference ManualFermi-Dirac integral calculator for iPhone/iPadNotes on Fermi-Dirac IntegralsSection in NIST Digital Library of Mathematical Functionsnpplus Python package that provides (among others) Fermi-Dirac integrals and inverses for several common orders.
Definition given by Wolfram's MathWorld.
Special functions
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