Saturday, 31 December 2016

statistical mechanics - Why is the canonical partition function the Laplace transform of the microcanonical partition function?


This web page says that the microcanonical partition function $$ \Omega(E) = \int \delta(H(x)-E) \,\mathrm{d}x $$ and the canonical partition function $$ Z(\beta) = \int e^{-\beta H(x)}\,\mathrm{d}x $$ are related by the fact that $Z$ is the Laplace transform of $\Omega$. I can see mathematically that this is true, but why are they related this way? Why can we intrepret the integrand in $Z$ as a probability, and what allows us to identify $\beta = \frac{1}{kT}$?





No comments:

Post a Comment

Understanding Stagnation point in pitot fluid

What is stagnation point in fluid mechanics. At the open end of the pitot tube the velocity of the fluid becomes zero.But that should result...