(a) In the free electron case the density of levels at the Fermi energy can be written in the form. Show that the general form
reduces to this when
and the (spherical) Fermi surface lies entirely within a primitive cell.
(b) Consider a band in which, for sufficiently small k, (as might be the case in a crystal of orthorhombic symmetry) where
are positive constants . Show that if
that this form is valid, then
is proportional to
, so its derivative becomes infinite (Van Hove Singularity) as
approaches the band minimum. (Hint: Use the form
for the density of levels) Deduce from this that if the quadratic form for
remains valid up to
, then
can be written in the obvious generalization of the free electron form:
where n is the contribution of the electrons in the band to the total electronic density.