Inverse temperature: Difference between revisions

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the occupations as independent variables. The minimization leads to
the occupations as independent variables. The minimization leads to


:<math>n_i=Ce^{-\beta e_i), </math>
:<math>n_i=C e^{-\beta e_i}, </math>


and an application to the case of an ideal gas reveals the connection with the temperature,
and an application to the case of an ideal gas reveals the connection with the temperature,

Revision as of 12:07, 4 March 2010

It is often convenient to define a dimensionless inverse temperature, :

This notation likely comes from its origin as a Lagrangian multiplier, for which Greek letters are customarily written.

Indeed, it shown in Ref. 1 that this is the way it enters. The task is to maximize number of ways $N$ particles may be asigned to $K$ space-momentum cells, such that one has a set of occupation numbers . Introducing the partition function:

one could maximize its logarithm (a monotonous function):

where Stirling's approximation for large numbers has been used. The maximization must be performed subject to the constraint:

An additional constraint, which applies only to dilute gases, is:

,

where is the total energy and is the energy of cell .

The method of Lagrange multipliers entail finding the extremum of the function

,

where the two Lagrange multipliers enforce the two conditions and permit the treatment of the occupations as independent variables. The minimization leads to

and an application to the case of an ideal gas reveals the connection with the temperature,


References

  1. Kerson Huang, "Statistical Physics" John Wiley and Sons, second edition, pp. 79-85 (1987)