The Helmholtz Free Energy

For a system at constant volume, there can be no PAV work and, since the only work we are presently considering is PAV work, w = 0. Therefore, from the first law of thermodynamics 

It follows from Equation 4.6, for a system at constant temperature, that 

Define, now, a new thermodynamic function, the Helmholtz free energy A, 

For a system at constant temperature with no PdV work, the second law states 

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The relations which permit us to express equilibria utilize the Gibbs free energy, to which we will give the symbol G and which will be called simply free energy for the rest of this chapter. This thermodynamic quantity is expressed as a function of enthalpy and entropy. This is not to be confused with the Helmholtz free energy which we will note sF (L" j (j, > )... 

Thus, for spontaneous processes at constant temperature and volume a new quantity, the Helmholtz free energy A, decreases. At equilibrium under such restrictions cL4 = 0. 

If there are other kinds of work, similar expressions apply. For example, with electromagnetic work (equation (A2.1.8)1 instead of pressure-volume work, one can write for the Helmholtz free energy... 

Figure A2.2.1. Heat capacity of a two-state system as a function of the dimensionless temperature, lc T/([iH). From the partition fimction, one also finds the Helmholtz free energy as...

Figure A2.5.9. (Ap), the Helmholtz free energy per unit volume in reduced units, of a van der Waals fluid as a fiinction of the reduced density p for several constant temperaPires above and below the critical temperaPire. As in the previous figures the llill curves (including the tangent two-phase tie-lines) represent stable siPiations, the dashed parts of the smooth curve are metastable extensions, and the dotted curves are unstable regions. See text for details.

If one assumes that tlie singular part A of the Helmholtz free energy is such a fimction... 

The canonical ensemble corresponds to a system of fixed and V, able to exchange energy with a thennal bath at temperature T, which represents the effects of the surroundings. The thennodynamic potential is the Helmholtz free energy, and it is related to the partition fiinction follows ... 

In Equation (5.58) the outer summation is over the p points q which are used to sample the Brillouin zone, is the fractional weight associated with each point (related to the volume of Brillouin zone space surrounding q) and vi are the phonon frequencies. In addition to the internal energy due to the vibrational modes it is also possible to calculate the vibrational entropy, and hence the free energy. The Helmholtz free energy at a temperature... 

LS now consider the problem of calculating the Helmholtz free energy of a molecular 1. Our aim is to express the free energy in the same functional form as the internal that is as an integral which incorporates the probability of a given state. First, we itute for the partition function in Equation (6.21) ... 

A consequence of writing the partition function as a product of a real gas and an ideal g part is that thermod)mamic properties can be written in terms of an ideal gas value and excess value. The ideal gas contributions can be determined analytically by integrating o the momenta. For example, the Helmholtz free energy is related to the canonical partitii function by ... 

Theoretically, several aspects of the Thommes-Findenegg experiment can be analyzed at the mean-field level [157]. A key quantity of a mean-field theory of confined fluids is the (Helmholtz) free energy, given by... 

The last equation comes from the condition that both the compressi-bihty and the energy route lead to the same value of the Helmholtz free energy. 

In the case of an associating fluid with the repulsive-attractive reference system potential, the attractive van der Waals forces between molecules may also be considered in a perturbational manner [114]. The Helmholtz free energy can be written as a sum of three terms... 

As noted above, it is very difficult to calculate entropic quantities with any reasonable accmacy within a finite simulation time. It is, however, possible to calculate differences in such quantities. Of special importance is the Gibbs free energy, as it is the natoal thermodynamical quantity under normal experimental conditions (constant temperature and pressme. Table 16.1), but we will illustrate the principle with the Helmholtz free energy instead. As indicated in eq. (16.1) the fundamental problem is the same. There are two commonly used methods for calculating differences in free energy Thermodynamic Perturbation and Thermodynamic Integration. 

In the absence of specific interactions of the receptor - ligand type the change in the Helmholtz free energy (AFadj due to the process of adsorption is AFads = yps - ypi - Ysi, where Yps, YPi and ys, are the protein-solid, protein-liquid and solid-liquid interfacial tensions, respectively [5], It is apparent from this equation that the free energy of adsorption of a protein onto a surface should depend not only of the surface tension of the adhering protein molecules and the substrate material but also on the surface tension of the suspending liquid. Two different situations are possible. 

The analog of Eq. (8-211) for the Helmholtz free energy is the grand potential... 

The Helmholtz free energy A is the second of the three derived thermodynamic properties. It is defined as... 

Under certain p, V, T conditions we can relate the Helmholtz free energy and the Gibbs free energy to work done in the process. To find the relationship between dA and 6u, we write... 

The Helmholtz free energy, A, which is the thermodynamic potential, the natural independent variables of which are those of the canonical ensemble, can be expressed in terms of the partition function ... 

The difference in the Helmholtz free energy between the target and the reference systems, AA, can be written in terms of the ratio of the corresponding partition... 

Consider a thermodynamic system with an external parameter (or constraint) A that can be used to control the state of the system. When changing the control parameter A a certain amount of work is performed on the system. According to the second law of thermodynamics the average work necessary to do that is smaller than the Helmholtz free energy difference between the two equilibrium states corresponding to the initial and final values of the constraint [33]... 

When calculating free energies, one generates, either by molecular dynamics or MC, configuration space samples distributed according to a probability distribution function (e.g., the Boltzmann distribution in the case of the Helmholtz free energy). 

Histograms for two runs at different chemical potentials are presented in Fig. 10.2. There is a range of N over which the two runs overlap. In Fig. 10.3 we show the function lnp(iV) — f S/iN for the data of Fig. 10.2. Rearranging (10.15) and taking the logarithm, we see that this function is related to the Helmholtz free energy... 

Fig. 11.1. The Helmholtz free energy as a function of /3 for the three free energy models of the harmonic oscillator. Here we have set h = uj = 1. The exact result is the solid line, the Feynman-Hibbs free energy is the upper dashed line, and the classical free energy is the lower dashed line. The classical and Feynman-Hibbs potentials bound the exact free energy, and the Feynman-Hibbs free energy becomes inaccurate as the quantum system drops into the ground state at low temperature...

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