Quantum statistics and the magnetocaloric effect

Abstract: Caloric materials show prospect in replacing the function of vaporcompression systems in todays cooling devices, resulting in more energy efficient cooling and eliminating the need for refrigerents which contribute to climate change. This project has focused on magnetocaloric materials, which experience changes in temperature when exposed to magnetic fields. A step to finding viable materials is developing realistic simulations. To this end, this project has investigated if the calculated magnetocaloric effect is impacted by the choice of statistic. Three systems have been studied, bcc Fe, FeRh and Fe2P, using Monte Carlo simulations. The results have shown differences in the calculated entropy change depending on the statistic of choice. The quantum statistics have shown a ∆S = 0 below the phase transition, unlike the classical statistics. At the phase tranisitions quantum statistics resulted in either similar or smaller values for the calculated change in entropy.