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A two-dimensional gas is a collection of objects constrained to move in a planar or other
two-dimensional space
In mathematics, a plane is a Euclidean ( flat), two-dimensional surface that extends indefinitely. A plane is the two-dimensional analogue of a point (zero dimensions), a line (one dimension) and three-dimensional space. Planes can arise as ...
in a
gas
Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma).
A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...
eous state. The objects can be: classical
ideal gas
An ideal gas is a theoretical gas composed of many randomly moving point particles that are not subject to interparticle interactions. The ideal gas concept is useful because it obeys the ideal gas law, a simplified equation of state, and is ...
elements such as rigid
disks undergoing
elastic collision
In physics, an elastic collision is an encounter (collision) between two bodies in which the total kinetic energy of the two bodies remains the same. In an ideal, perfectly elastic collision, there is no net conversion of kinetic energy into ...
s;
elementary particle
In particle physics, an elementary particle or fundamental particle is a subatomic particle that is not composed of other particles. Particles currently thought to be elementary include electrons, the fundamental fermions (quarks, leptons, antiq ...
s, or any ensemble of individual objects in
physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which rel ...
which obeys
laws of motion without binding interactions. The concept of a two-dimensional gas is used either because:
molecular
A molecule is a group of two or more atoms held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions which satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, and bioch ...
phenomena); or,
the two-dimensional form of the problem is more tractable than the analogous mathematically
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
more complex three-dimension
In physics and mathematics, the dimension of a mathematical space (or object) is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it. Thus, a line has a dimension of one (1D) because only one coor ...
al problem.
While
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe.
Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate ca ...
s have studied simple
two body interactions on a plane for centuries, the attention given to the two-dimensional gas (having many bodies in motion) is a 20th-century pursuit. Applications have led to better understanding of
superconductivity
Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in certain materials where electrical resistance vanishes and magnetic flux fields are expelled from the material. Any material exhibiting these properties is a superconductor. Unlik ...
, gas
thermodynamics
Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed by the four laws o ...
, certain
solid state
Solid state, or solid matter, is one of the four fundamental states of matter.
Solid state may also refer to:
Electronics
* Solid-state electronics, circuits built of solid materials
* Solid state ionics, study of ionic conductors and their u ...
problems and several questions in
quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, q ...
.
Classical mechanics
Research at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...
in the early 1960s posed the question of whether the
Maxwell–Boltzmann statistics
In statistical mechanics, Maxwell–Boltzmann statistics describes the distribution of classical material particles over various energy states in thermal equilibrium. It is applicable when the temperature is high enough or the particle density ...
and other thermodynamic laws could be derived from
Newtonian laws applied to multi-body systems rather than through the conventional methods of
statistical mechanics. While this question appears intractable from a three-dimensional
closed form solution, the problem behaves differently in two-dimensional space. In particular an ideal two-dimensional gas was examined from the standpoint of relaxation time to
equilibrium velocity
Velocity is the directional speed of an object in motion as an indication of its rate of change in position as observed from a particular frame of reference and as measured by a particular standard of time (e.g. northbound). Velocity i ...
distribution given several arbitrary initial conditions of the ideal gas.
Relaxation time
In the physical sciences, relaxation usually means the return of a perturbed system into equilibrium.
Each relaxation process can be categorized by a relaxation time τ. The simplest theoretical description of relaxation as function of time ' ...
s were shown to be very fast: on the order of
mean free time .
In 1996 a computational approach was taken to the classical mechanics non-equilibrium problem of
heat flow
Heat transfer is a discipline of thermal engineering that concerns the generation, use, conversion, and exchange of thermal energy (heat) between physical systems. Heat transfer is classified into various mechanisms, such as thermal conduction, ...
within a two-dimensional gas. This simulation work showed that for N>1500, good agreement with continuous systems is obtained.
Electron gas
While the principle of the
cyclotron
A cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator invented by Ernest O. Lawrence in 1929–1930 at the University of California, Berkeley, and patented in 1932. Lawrence, Ernest O. ''Method and apparatus for the acceleration of ions'', filed: J ...
to create a two-dimensional array of
electron
The electron (, or in nuclear reactions) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary electric charge. Electrons belong to the first generation of the lepton particle family,
and are generally thought to be elementary partic ...
s has existed since 1934, the tool was originally not really used to analyze interactions among the electrons (e.g. two-dimensional
gas dynamics
Compressible flow (or gas dynamics) is the branch of fluid mechanics that deals with flows having significant changes in fluid density. While all flows are compressible, flows are usually treated as being incompressible when the Mach number (the ...
). An early research investigation explored
cyclotron resonance
Cyclotron resonance describes the interaction of external forces with charged particles experiencing a magnetic field, thus already moving on a circular path. It is named after the cyclotron, a cyclic particle accelerator that utilizes an oscillati ...
behavior and the
de Haas–van Alphen effect in a two-dimensional electron gas. The investigator was able to demonstrate that for a two-dimensional gas, the de Haas–van Alphen oscillation period is independent of the short-range electron interactions.
Later applications to Bose gas
In 1991 a theoretical proof was made that a
Bose gas
An ideal Bose gas is a quantum-mechanical phase of matter, analogous to a classical ideal gas. It is composed of bosons, which have an integer value of spin, and abide by Bose–Einstein statistics. The statistical mechanics of bosons were de ...
can exist in two dimensions. In the same work an experimental recommendation was made that could verify the hypothesis.
Experimental research with a molecular gas
In general, 2D molecular gases are experimentally observed on weakly interacting surfaces such as metals,
graphene
Graphene () is an allotrope of carbon consisting of a Single-layer materials, single layer of atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice nanostructure. etc. at a non-cryogenic temperature and a low surface coverage. As a direct observation of individual molecules is not possible due to fast diffusion of molecules on a surface, experiments are either indirect (observing an interaction of a 2D gas with surroundings, e.g. condensation of a 2D gas) or integral (measuring integral properties of 2D gases, e.g. by diffraction methods).
An example of the indirect observation of a 2D gas is the study of Stranick et al. who used a
scanning tunnelling microscope in
ultrahigh vacuum
Ultra-high vacuum (UHV) is the vacuum regime characterised by pressures lower than about . UHV conditions are created by pumping the gas out of a UHV chamber. At these low pressures the mean free path of a gas molecule is greater than approximately ...
(UHV) to image an interaction of a two-dimensional
benzene
Benzene is an organic chemical compound with the molecular formula C6H6. The benzene molecule is composed of six carbon atoms joined in a planar ring with one hydrogen atom attached to each. Because it contains only carbon and hydrogen ato ...
gas layer in contact with a planar solid interface at 77
kelvins
The kelvin, symbol K, is the primary unit of temperature in the International System of Units (SI), used alongside its prefixed forms and the degree Celsius. It is named after the Belfast-born and University of Glasgow-based engineer and ph ...
. The experimenters were able to observe mobile benzene molecules on the surface of Cu(111), to which a planar monomolecular film of solid benzene adhered. Thus the scientists could witness the equilibrium of the gas in contact with its solid state.
Integral methods that are able to characterize a 2D gas usually fall into a category of
diffraction (see for example study of Kroger et al.). The exception is the work of Matvija et al. who used a
scanning tunneling microscope
A scanning tunneling microscope (STM) is a type of microscope used for imaging surfaces at the atomic level. Its development in 1981 earned its inventors, Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer, then at IBM Zürich, the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986 ...
to directly visualize a local time-averaged density of molecules on a surface. This method is of special importance as it provides an opportunity to probe local properties of 2D gases; for instance it enables to directly visualize a
pair correlation function
In statistical mechanics, the radial distribution function, (or pair correlation function) g(r) in a system of particles (atoms, molecules, colloids, etc.), describes how density varies as a function of distance from a reference particle.
I ...
of a 2D molecular gas in a real space.
If the surface coverage of adsorbates is increased, a
2D liquid is formed,
followed by a 2D solid. It was shown that the transition from a 2D gas to a 2D solid state can be controlled by a
scanning tunneling microscope
A scanning tunneling microscope (STM) is a type of microscope used for imaging surfaces at the atomic level. Its development in 1981 earned its inventors, Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer, then at IBM Zürich, the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986 ...
which can affect the local density of molecules via an electric field.
[{{Cite journal, last1=Matvija, first1=Peter, last2=Rozbořil, first2=Filip, last3=Sobotík, first3=Pavel, last4=Ošťádal, first4=Ivan, last5=Pieczyrak, first5=Barbara, last6=Jurczyszyn, first6=Leszek, last7=Kocán, first7=Pavel, title=Electric-field-controlled phase transition in a 2D molecular layer, journal=Scientific Reports, volume=7, issue=1, pages=7357, doi=10.1038/s41598-017-07277-7, pmid=28779091, bibcode=2017NatSR...7.7357M, year=2017, pmc=5544747]
Implications for future research
A multiplicity of theoretical physics research directions exist for study via a two-dimensional gas. Examples of these are
*Complex
quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, q ...
phenomena, whose solutions may be more appropriate in a two-dimensional environment;
*Studies of
phase transition
In chemistry, thermodynamics, and other related fields, a phase transition (or phase change) is the physical process of transition between one state of a medium and another. Commonly the term is used to refer to changes among the basic states ...
s (e.g.
melting
Melting, or fusion, is a physical process that results in the phase transition of a substance from a solid to a liquid. This occurs when the internal energy of the solid increases, typically by the application of heat or pressure, which inc ...
phenomena at a
planar surface);
*
Thin film
A thin film is a layer of material ranging from fractions of a nanometer ( monolayer) to several micrometers in thickness. The controlled synthesis of materials as thin films (a process referred to as deposition) is a fundamental step in many a ...
phenomena such as
chemical vapor deposition
Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a vacuum deposition method used to produce high quality, and high-performance, solid materials. The process is often used in the semiconductor industry to produce thin films.
In typical CVD, the wafer (subst ...
;
*Surface
excitations of a solid.
See also
*
Bose gas
An ideal Bose gas is a quantum-mechanical phase of matter, analogous to a classical ideal gas. It is composed of bosons, which have an integer value of spin, and abide by Bose–Einstein statistics. The statistical mechanics of bosons were de ...
*
Fermi gas
An ideal Fermi gas is a state of matter which is an ensemble of many non-interacting fermions. Fermions are particles that obey Fermi–Dirac statistics, like electrons, protons, and neutrons, and, in general, particles with half-integer s ...
*
Melting point
The melting point (or, rarely, liquefaction point) of a substance is the temperature at which it changes state from solid to liquid. At the melting point the solid and liquid phase exist in equilibrium. The melting point of a substance depends ...
*
Optical lattice
An optical lattice is formed by the interference of counter-propagating laser beams, creating a spatially periodic polarization pattern. The resulting periodic potential may trap neutral atoms via the Stark shift. Atoms are cooled and congreg ...
*
Three-body problem
In physics and classical mechanics, the three-body problem is the problem of taking the initial positions and velocities (or momenta) of three point masses and solving for their subsequent motion according to Newton's laws of motion and Newton's ...
References
External links
Riemann problems for a two-dimensional gas
Gases
Non-equilibrium thermodynamics
Statistical mechanics