[Physics] Limit of Fermi-Dirac distribution as $T$ goes to zero

chemical-potentialfermi-energyfermionsstatistical mechanicstemperature

Hopefully this is a simple question, I just can't seem to get my mind around it.

I'm to take the limit of the Fermi-Dirac distribution for $T \rightarrow 0$.

In this limit the chemical potential is equal to the Fermi energy $\mu = \epsilon_F$, and all states of energy below the Fermi energy is occupied, while all states above are empty.

Following this argument I would say, that the Fermi-Dirac distribution tends to a step-function with argument $\epsilon_F – \epsilon$, such that

$$
f \rightarrow \Theta(\epsilon_F – \epsilon) \quad \text{for} \quad T \rightarrow 0,
$$
which is one for $ \epsilon < \epsilon_F $ and zero for $ \epsilon > \epsilon_F $.

My problem is that I have found the results stated in a textbook and a couple of other cases, where it's stated as

$$
f \rightarrow \Theta(\epsilon – \epsilon_F) \quad \text{for} \quad T \rightarrow 0.
$$

Can someone tell me which result is correct and maybe explain why the second result is correct if it is so.

Best Answer

If we neglect the possibility of negative temperature, then OP is right:

The Fermi-Dirac distribution

$$f_{FD}(\epsilon) ~\longrightarrow ~\Theta(\epsilon_F - \epsilon) \qquad \text{for}\qquad T ~\longrightarrow ~0^{+}, $$

where $\Theta$ is the Heaviside step function.

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