Statistical mechanics and path integrals for a finite number of bosons
Abstract
Recent investigations show that the statistical mechanics of a finite number of particles in ideal harmonic systems predicts different results for the same physical properties, depending on the ensemble under consideration. Path integral methods for a finite number of bosons with equidistant energy levels give the same answers for the mean energy, the specific heat and the condensation temperature etc., irrespective whether their calculation results from the density of states, from the partition function or from the generating function. We show that this contradiction is due either to the use of approximate relations between quantum statistical expressions, or to a misinterpretation of the generating function.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/9803168,
title = {Statistical mechanics and path integrals for a finite number of bosons},
author = {L. F. Lemmens and F. Brosens and J. T. Devreese},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/9803168},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
REVTEX, 6 pages + postscript figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. on November 13, 1997