Abstract
Stationary variational functionals for the Laplace transform of the Liouville distribution are constructed. The value of the functional is the autocorrelation function that one wishes to compute. It is shown that the functionals may be transformed to a renormalized form. Trial functions not involving the potential explicitly give rise to time-dependent autocorrelation functions determined only by equilibrium spatial correlation functions. Another class of functionals is constructed by independently varying the parity symmetric and antisymmetric parts of the distribution function. Trial functions need only be assumed for one of these—the optimum value of the other one is given exactly. This procedure is used to improve the simplest known theories for velocity and density autocorrelation functions.
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Work supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation.
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Gross, E.P. Approximate solutions of the Liouville equation. II. Stationary variational principles. J Stat Phys 9, 275–295 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01012162
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01012162