Relativistic partition function and polarization properties of a Fermi gas

A relativistically invariant partition function method is developed in the framework of quantum field theory for an ideal Fermi gas. This method is the basis for a description of the thermodynamic and statistical properties of gases in arbitrary frames of reference. It is shown that an ideal equilibrium gas of massless fermions moving as a whole can exhibit a polarization. The results may have applications in the description of high-energy hadron-nucleus reactions and heavy-ion collisions.