Abstract
We show that the quantum statistical mechanics (QSM) describing the quantum and thermal properties of objects only has the sense of a particular semiclassical approximation. We propose a more general microdescription than in QSM of objects in a thermal bath with the vacuum explicitly taken into account; we call it ħ-k dynamics. We construct a qualitatively new model of the object environment, namely, a quantum thermal bath. We study its properties including the cases of a “cold” and a “thermal” vacuum. We introduce the stochastic action operator and show its fundamental role in the microdescription. We establish that the corresponding macroparameter, the effective action, plays just as significant a role in the macrodescription. The most important effective macroparameters of equilibrium quantum statistical thermodynamics—internal energy, temperature, and entropy—are expressed in terms of this macroparameter.
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Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Matematicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 160, No. 2, pp. 370–384, August, 2009.
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Sukhanov, A.D., Golubeva, O.N. Toward a quantum generalization of equilibrium statistical thermodynamics: ħ-k Dynamics. Theor Math Phys 160, 1177–1189 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11232-009-0109-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11232-009-0109-0