Equilibrium Formulation and Order Parameter

Any discontinuity in dH/dT)p or (0H/0P)j. is reflected in a discontinuity in (0S/0T)p or (0V/0T)p, respectively. This is a very important property of the ideal glass transition. 

Before we introduce our restricted partition function formalism, we need to review some salient aspects of the equilibrium statistical mechanics formalism. This will also help with the clarity and continuity of presentation. We will restrict our discussion to the canonical ensemble, but the extension to other ensembles is straightforward and trivial. 

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