title: Partition function of a spinor gas
abstract: For a spinor gas, i.e., a mixture of identical particles with several internal degrees of freedom, we derive the partition function in terms of the Feynman-Kac functionals of polarized components. As an example we study a spin-1 Bose gas with the spins subjected to an external magnetic field and confined by a parabolic potential. From the analysis of the free energy for a finite number of particles, we find that the specific heat of this ideal spinor gas as a function of temperature has two maxima: one is related to a Schottky anomaly, due to the lifting of the spin degeneracy by the external field, the other maximum is the signature of Bose-Einstein condensation.
authors.affiliation: Departement Natuurkunde, Universiteit Antwerpen RUCA, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerpen, Belgium.
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Lemmens
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Brosens
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Devreese