Classical statistical mechanics canonical ensemble

Of course, one is not really interested in classical mechanical calculations. Thus in normal practice the partition functions used in TST, as discussed in Chapter 4, are evaluated using quantum partition functions for harmonic frequencies (extension to anharmonicity is straightforward). On the other hand rotations and translations are handled classically both in TST and in VTST, which is a standard approximation except at very low temperatures. Later, by introducing canonical partition functions one can direct the discussion towards canonical variational transition state theory (CVTST) where the statistical mechanics involves ensembles defined in terms of temperature and volume. There is also a form of variational transition state theory based on microcanonical ensembles referred to by the symbol p,. Discussion of VTST based on microcanonical ensembles pVTST is beyond the scope of the discussion here. It is only mentioned that in pVTST the dividing surface is... 

Under very general conditions, it follows from classical statistical mechanics that the equilibrium behavior of our fluid system is adequately described % the behavior of a Gibbskn ensemble of systems characterized by a canonical distribution (in energy) in phase space. This has two immediate consequences. First it specifies the spatial distribution of our N molecule system. The simultaneous probability that some first molecule center hes in the volume element dr whose center is at and etc., and the Nih molecule center lies in the volume element dr f whose center is at is... 

Other ensembles, notably NVT (canonical), NPE, and NPT, are also used routinely. Since energy is constantly flowing back and forth from potential to kinetic terms in any MD simulation, it is necessary to regularly readjust the kinetic energy in the ensembles that hold the temperature constant. This is required because the temperature is deflned by the classical statistical mechanical equation... 

These MC methods then are based on the Metropolis algorithm [251], by which one constructs a stochastic trajectory through the crmfiguration space (X) of the system, performing transitions W(X X ). The transition probability must be chosen such that it satisfies the detailed balance principle with the probability distribution that one wishes to study. For example, for classical statistical mechanics, the canonical ensemble distribution is given in terms of the total potential energy t/(X), where X = ( i, 2,..., iV) stands symbolically for a point in configuration space [17] ... 

Statistical mechanics can also be based on classical mechanics, and a brief introduction to this subject was included in the chapter, based on the canonical ensemble. Since classical states are specified by values of coordinates and momentum components, the probability distribution for classical statistical mechanics is a probability density... 

From elementary classical statistical mechanics for the canonical ensemble (constant NVT), we can relate the free energy G of any system to an integral of the Boltzmann factor over coordinate q) and momentum (p) phase spaces ... 

The grand canonical ensemble is a set of systems each with the same volume V, the same temperature T and the same chemical potential p (or if there is more than one substance present, the same set of p. s). This corresponds to a set of systems separated by diathennic and penneable walls and allowed to equilibrate. In classical thennodynamics, the appropriate fimction for fixed p, V, and Tis the productpV(see equation (A2.1.3 7)1 and statistical mechanics relates pV directly to the grand canonical partition function... 

No system is exactly unifomi even a crystal lattice will have fluctuations in density, and even the Ising model must pemiit fluctuations in the configuration of spins around a given spin. Moreover, even the classical treatment allows for fluctuations the statistical mechanics of the grand canonical ensemble yields an exact relation between the isothemial compressibility K j,and the number of molecules Ain volume V ... 

There is considerable interest in the use of discretized path-integral simulations to calculate free energy differences or potentials of mean force using quantum statistical mechanics for many-body systems [140], The reader has already become familiar with this approach to simulating with classical systems in Chap. 7. The theoretical basis of such methods is the Feynmann path-integral representation [141], from which is derived the isomorphism between the equilibrium canonical ensemble of a... 

In quantum statistical mechanics where a density operator replaces the classical phase density the statistics of the grand canonical ensemble becomes feasible. The problem with the classical formulation is not entirely unexpected in view of the fact that even the classical canonical ensemble that predicts equipartitioning of molecular energies, is not supported by observation. 

Limitation to ensembles that allow exchange of energy, but not of matter, with their environment is unnecessarily restrictive and unrealistic. What is required is an ensemble for which the particle numbers, Nj also appear as random variables. As pointed out before, the probability that a system has variable particle numbers N and occurs in a mechanical state (p, q) can not be interpreted as a classical phase density. In quantum statistics the situation is different. Because of second quantization the grand canonical ensemble, like the microcanonical and canonical ensembles, can be represented by means of a density operator in Hilbert space. 

There are two basic approaches to the computer simulation of liquid crystals, the Monte Carlo method and the method known as molecular dynamics. We will first discuss the basis of the Monte Carlo method. As is the case with both these methods, a small number (of the order hundreds) of molecules is considered and the difficulties introduced by this restriction are, at least in part, removed by the use of artful boundary conditions which will be discussed below. This relatively small assembly of molecules is treated by a method based on the canonical partition function approach. That is to say, the energy which appears in the Boltzman factor is the total energy of the assembly and such factors are assumed summed over an ensemble of assemblies. The summation ranges over all the coordinates and momenta which describe the assemblies. As a classical approach is taken to the problem, the summation is replaced by an integration over all these coordinates though, in the final computation, a return to a summation has to be made. If one wishes to find the probable value of some particular physical quantity, A, which is a function of the coordinates just referred to, then statistical mechanics teaches that this quantity is given by... 

By choosing the initial conditions for an ensemble of trajectories to represent a quantum mechanical state, trajectories may be used to investigate state-specific dynamics and some of the early studies actually probed the possibility of state specificity in unimolecular decay [330]. However, an initial condition studied by many classical trajectory simulations, but not realized in any experiment is that of a micro-canonical ensemble [331] which assumes each state of the energized reactant is populated statistically with an equal probability. The classical dynamics of this ensemble is of fundamental interest, because RRKM unimolecular rate theory assumes this ensemble is maintained for the reactant [6,332] as it decomposes. As a result, RRKM theory rules-out the possibility of state-specific unimolecular decomposition. The relationship between the classical dynamics of a micro-canonical ensemble and RRKM theory is the first topic considered here. 

A RRKM unimolecular system obeys the ergodic principle of statistical mechanics [337]. A quantity of more utility than N t), for analyzing the classical dynamics of a micro-canonical ensemble, is the lifetime distribution Pc t), which is defined by... 

Until now, our formulation of statistical thermodynamics has been based on quantum mechanics. This is reflected by the definition of the canonical ensemble partition function Q, which turns out to be linked to matrix elements of the Hamiltonian operator H in Eq. (2.39). However, the systems treated below exist in a region of thermodjniamic state space where the exact quantum mechanical treatment may be abandoned in favor of a classic dc.scription. The transition from quantum to classic statistics was worked out by Kirkwood [22, 23] and Wigner [24] and is rarely discussed in standard texts on statistical physics. For the sake of completeness, self-containment, and as background information for the interested readers we summarize the key considerations in this section. 

Every serious student of fluids will own a copy of Rowlinson s book on liquids and liquid mixtures, and there is no warrant for a repetition of his scholarly and lucid exposition of the classical thermodynamics of the critical state. But a few of the important points must be brought to mind. Consider the classical isotherm portrayed in Fig. 1. The solid fine represents the observed pressure of a system in its most stable state of volume V. Between points 1 and 4 the compressibility of the fluid is infinite, although approximate statistical-mechanical theories, when based on the canonical ensemble, give a loop between points 1 and 4 and... 

The partition function and the sum or density of states are functions which are to statistical mechanics what the wave function is to quantum mechanics. Once they are known, all of the thermodynamic quantities of interest can be calculated. It is instructive to compare these two functions because they are closely related. Both provide a measure of the number of states in a system. The partition function is a quantity that is appropriate for thermal systems at a given temperature (canonical ensemble), whereas the sum and density of states are equivalent functions for systems at constant energy (microcanonical ensemble). In order to lay the groundwork for an understanding of these two functions as well as a number of other topics in the theory of unimolecular reactions, it is essential to review some basic ideas from classical and quantum statistical mechanics. 

The first of these developments is perturbation theory. Its application to solution theory was perhaps first made by H. C. Longuet-Higgins in his conformal solution theory (Longuet-Higgins 1951). The formal theory of statistical mechanical perturbation theory is very simple in the canonical ensemble. If denotes the intermo-lecular potential energy of a classical A-body system (not necessarily the sum of pair potentials), the central problem is to evaluate the partition function. 

Applications of the canonical ensemble to quantum mechanical systems other than dilute gases are beyond the scope of this book, and we omit them. These applications are discussed in some of the statistical mechanics books listed at the end of this volume. We will make some comments on the application of the canonical ensemble to systems obeying classical mechanics in the next section. 

Because the partition function can be expressed in terms of phase space probabilities, the fundamental classical thermodynamic relationships provide the link between statistical mechanics and thermodynamics. The fundamental thermodynamic function for the canonical ensemble is the Helmholtz free energy, F ... 

The present article presents an introduction to the path integral formulation of quantum dynamics and quantum statistical mechanics along with numerical procedures useful in these areas and in electronic structure theory. Section 2 describes the path integral formulation of the quantum mechanical propagator and its relation to the more conventional Schrddinger description. That section also derives the classical limit and discusses the connection with equilibrium properties in the canonical ensemble, Numerical techniques are described in Section 3. Selective chemical applications of the path integral approach are presented in Section 4 and Section 5 concludes. 

In view of the formal identity of the expressions for the Gibbs entropy of quantum and classical canonical ensembles, all the previously made formal cotmections between the thermodynamics and the statistical mechanics of closed, isothermal classical systems also apply to closed, isothermal quanmm systems. [See Eqs. (60)-(66b).] One... 

In section 1.2, we introduced the quantum mechanical partition function in the T, V, N ensemble. In most applications of statistical thermodynamics to problems in chemistry and biochemistry, the classical limit of the quantum mechanical partition function is used. In this section, we present the so-called classical canonical partition function. 

---