Relativistic statistical thermodynamics of dense photon gas

Abstract

We discuss some aspects of interactions of high-frequency electromagnetic waves with plasmas, assuming that the intensity of radiation is sufficiently large, so that the photon-photon interaction is more likely than the photon-plasma particle interaction. In the stationary limit, solving the kinetic equation of the photon gas, we derive a distribution function. With this distribution function at hand, we investigate the adiabatic photon self-capture and obtain the number density of the trapped photons. We employ the distribution function to calculate the thermodynamic quantities for the photon gas. Having expressions of the entropy and the pressure of the photon gas, we define the heat capacities and exhibit the existence of the ratio of the specific heats Gamma , which equals 7/6 for nonrelativistic temperatures. In addition, we disclose the magnitude of the mean square fluctuation of the number of photons. Finally, we discuss the uniform expansion of the photon gas.