English

A short derivation of Boltzmann distribution and Gibbs entropy formula from the fundamental postulate

Statistical Mechanics 2023-02-03 v3 Chemical Physics

Abstract

Introducing the Boltzmann distribution very early in a statistical thermodynamics course (in the spirit of Feynmann) has many didactic advantages, in particular that of easily deriving the Gibbs entropy formula. In this note, a short derivation is proposed from the fundamental postulate of statistical mechanics and basics calculations accessible to undergraduate students.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2211.02455,
  title  = {A short derivation of Boltzmann distribution and Gibbs entropy formula from the fundamental postulate},
  author = {Didier Lairez},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2211.02455},
  year   = {2023}
}