ABSTRACT
This chapter explains a number of consequences stemming directly from Planck's law. It also explains the deviation of the Stefan–Boltzmann law from Planck's law, this time however using the polylogarithmic approach. The polylogarithmic function, or polylogarithms for short, are one of the classical functions of mathematical physics. As one will come to see, the polylogarithmic formulation is the most natural setting in which to consider the problem of blackbody radiation. If one must speak of a "peak" in Planck's distribution function, it is often preferred by some authors as its spectral scale independence means it is the most physically meaningful of all the displacement-like laws for blackbody radiation. While Eugen Cornelius Joseph von Lommel was interested in advancing a theoretical understanding of absorption and fluorescence, it is a little unclear to us why Eugen von thought a scale based on frequency would be more suited to light measured using a prismatic spectrum.
