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Statistical foundations of thermal equilibrium

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Il Nuovo Cimento B (1971-1996)

Summary

A many-body system is considered in thermostatic equilibium with a heat reservoir. The state function for the system in the momentum representation is expressed as an infinite series expansion in terms of the Hermite orthonormal functions. It is demonstrated that the symmetrization of the terms of the series will lead to statistical independence of molecular momenta in the limit of classical mechanics. By applying this condition to Liouville’s equation, it is shown that the density in phase space is canonical in form.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of Lowell, 01854, Lowell, MA, USA

    L. E. Beghian

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  1. L. E. Beghian
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Beghian, L.E. Statistical foundations of thermal equilibrium. Nuov Cim B 107, 141–152 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02722912

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02722912

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