Partition function (statistical mechanics): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:55, 29 December 2020

Revision as of 21:45, 17 March 2021

Line 11:

=== Definition ===

Initially, let us assume that a thermodynamically large system is in [[thermal contact]] with the environment, with a temperature ''T'', and both the volume of the system and the number of constituent particles are fixed. A collection of this kind of systemssystem comprises an ensemble called a [[canonical ensemble]]. The appropriate [[mathematical expression]] for the canonical partition function depends on the [[degrees of freedom]] of the system, whether the context is [[classical mechanics]] or [[quantum mechanics]], and whether the spectrum of states is [[Discrete mathematics|discrete]] or [[Probability distribution#Continuous probability distribution|continuous]].{{Citation needed|reason=definition of partition function requires referencing|date=December 2016}}

;Classical discrete system