Equilibrium, statistical mechanics

In equilibrium statistical mechanics, one is concerned with the thennodynamic and other macroscopic properties of matter. The aim is to derive these properties from the laws of molecular dynamics and thus create a link between microscopic molecular motion and thennodynamic behaviour. A typical macroscopic system is composed of a large number A of molecules occupying a volume V which is large compared to that occupied by a molecule ... 

In this chapter, the foundations of equilibrium statistical mechanics are introduced and applied to ideal and weakly interacting systems. The coimection between statistical mechanics and thennodynamics is made by introducing ensemble methods. The role of mechanics, both quantum and classical, is described. In particular, the concept and use of the density of states is utilized. Applications are made to ideal quantum and classical gases, ideal gas of diatomic molecules, photons and the black body radiation, phonons in a hannonic solid, conduction electrons in metals and the Bose—Einstein condensation. Introductory aspects of the density... 

Andersen H C and Chandler D 1970 Mode expansion in equilibrium statistical mechanics I. General theory and application to electron gas J. Chem. Phys. 53 547... 

Chandler D and Andersen H C 1971 Mode expansion in equilibrium statistical mechanics II. A rapidly convergent theory of ionic solutions J. Chem. Phys. 54 26... 

Andersen H C and Chandler D 1971 Mode expansion in equilibrium statistical mechanics III. 

Friedman H L and Dale W T 1977 Electrolyte solutions at equilibrium Statistical Mechanics part A, Equilibrium Techniques ed B J Berne (New York Plenum)... 

Wertheim M 1979 Equilibrium statistical mechanics of polar fluids Ann. Rev. Phys. Chem. 30 471... 

The equilibrium state for a gas of monoatomic particles is described by a spatially unifonn, time independent distribution fiinction whose velocity dependence has the fomi of the Maxwell-Boltzmaim distribution, obtained from equilibrium statistical mechanics. That is,/(r,v,t) has the fomi/" (v) given by... 

McLennan J A 1989 Introduction to Non-Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics (Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall) ch 9... 

Progress in the theoretical description of reaction rates in solution of course correlates strongly with that in other theoretical disciplines, in particular those which have profited most from the enonnous advances in computing power such as quantum chemistry and equilibrium as well as non-equilibrium statistical mechanics of liquid solutions where Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations in many cases have taken on the traditional role of experunents, as they allow the detailed investigation of the influence of intra- and intemiolecular potential parameters on the microscopic dynamics not accessible to measurements in the laboratory. No attempt, however, will be made here to address these areas in more than a cursory way, and the interested reader is referred to the corresponding chapters of the encyclopedia. 

The reason for this enliancement is intuitively obvious once the two reactants have met, they temporarily are trapped in a connnon solvent shell and fomi a short-lived so-called encounter complex. During the lifetime of the encounter complex they can undergo multiple collisions, which give them a much bigger chance to react before they separate again, than in the gas phase. So this effect is due to the microscopic solvent structure in the vicinity of the reactant pair. Its description in the framework of equilibrium statistical mechanics requires the specification of an appropriate interaction potential. 

Toba M, Kubo R and Saito N 1992 Statistical Physics I. Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics (New York Springer)... 

Kubo, R., M. Toda and N. Nashitsume, 1985, Statistical Physics. Non-equilibrium Statistical Mechanics (Springer, Berlin). 

D. A. Browne, P. Kleban. Equilibrium statistical mechanics for kinetic phase transitions. Phys Rev A 40 1615-1626, 1989. 

Let P a a ) be the probability of transition from state a to state a. In general, the set of transition probabilities will define a system that is not describ-able by an equilibrium statistical mechanics. Instead, it might give rise to limit cycles or even chaotic behavior. Fortunately, there exists a simple condition called detailed balance such that, if satisfied, guarantees that the evolution will lead to the desired thermal equilibrium. Detailed balance requires that the average number of transitions from a to a equal the number of transitions from a to a ... 

We thus have that the time evolution of the one-dimensional PCA system is equivalent to the equilibrium statistical mechanics of a spin model on a triangular lattice ([domany84], [geor89]). ... 

Introduction.—Statistical physics deals with the relation between the macroscopic laws that describe the internal state of a system and the dynamics of the interactions of its microscopic constituents. The derivation of the nonequilibrium macroscopic laws, such as those of hydrodynamics, from the microscopic laws has not been developed as generally as in the equilibrium case (the derivation of thermodynamic relations by equilibrium statistical mechanics). The microscopic analysis of nonequilibrium phenomena, however, has achieved a considerable degree of success for the particular case of dilute gases. In this case, the kinetic theory, or transport theory, allows one to relate the transport of matter or of energy, for example (as in diffusion, or heat flow, respectively), to the mechanics of the molecules that make up the system. 

Toda, M., Kubo, R., Saito, N., Statistical Physics I Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics, Springer-Verlag, Berlin (1992). 

The concentrations of the reactants and reaction prodncts are determined in general by the solution of the transport diffusion-migration equations. If the ionic distribution is not disturbed by the electrochemical reaction, the problem simplifies and the concentrations can be found through equilibrium statistical mechanics. The main task of the microscopic theory of electrochemical reactions is the description of the mechanism of the elementary reaction act and calculation of the corresponding transition probabilities. 

This is a law about the equilibrium state, when macroscopic change has ceased it is the state, according to the law, of maximum entropy. It is not really a law about nonequilibrium per se, not in any quantitative sense, although the law does introduce the notion of a nonequilibrium state constrained with respect to structure. By implication, entropy is perfectly well defined in such a nonequilibrium macrostate (otherwise, how could it increase ), and this constrained entropy is less than the equilibrium entropy. Entropy itself is left undefined by the Second Law, and it was only later that Boltzmann provided the physical interpretation of entropy as the number of molecular configurations in a macrostate. This gave birth to his probability distribution and hence to equilibrium statistical mechanics. 

The aim of this section is to give the steady-state probability distribution in phase space. This then provides a basis for nonequilibrium statistical mechanics, just as the Boltzmann distribution is the basis for equilibrium statistical mechanics. The connection with the preceding theory for nonequilibrium thermodynamics will also be given. 

Jackson, J. L. Klein, L. S., Potential distribution method in equilibrium statistical mechanics, Phys. Fluids 1964, 7, 228-231... 

In equilibrium statistical mechanics involving quantum effects, we need to know the density matrix in order to calculate averages of the quantities of interest. This density matrix is the quantum analog of the classical Boltzmann factor. It can be obtained by solving a differential equation very similar to the time-dependent Schrodinger equation... 

Marcus uses the Born-Oppenheimer approximation to separate electronic and nuclear motions, the only exception being at S in the case of nonadiabatic reactions. Classical equilibrium statistical mechanics is used to calculate the probability of arriving at the activated complex only vibrational quantum effects are treated approximately. The result is... 

However, the recent developments in non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, and the success of its application in another field of physics where the long-range Coulomb forces play a major role, namely plasma physics, have led various authors to investigate the limiting laws for transport phenomena in electrolytes from a... 

Prigogine, I., Non-Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics, Interscience Publishers, New York, 1962. 

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