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The Principle of equal Probabilities of Quantum States

Quantum Physics 2021-11-18 v1 Mathematical Physics math.MP

Abstract

The statistical problem of the distribution of ss quanta of equal energy ϵ0\epsilon_0 and total energy EE among NN distinguishable particles is resolved using the conventional theory based on Boltzmann's principle of equal probabilities of configurations of particles distributed among energy levels and the concept of average state. In particular, the probability that a particle is in the \k{appa}-th energy level i.e. contains \k{appa} quanta, is given by p(κ)=(N+sκ2N2)(N+s1N1)      ;      κ=0,1,2,,sp(\kappa)=\displaystyle \frac{\displaystyle \binom{N+s-\kappa-2}{N-2}}{\displaystyle \binom{N+s-1}{N-1}} \;\;\; ; \;\;\; \kappa = 0, 1, 2, \cdots, s In this context, the special case (N=4N=4, s=4s=4) presented indicates that the alternative concept of most probable state is not valid for finite values of ss and NN. In the present article we derive alternatively p(κ)p(\kappa) by distributing ss quanta over NN particles and by introducing a new principle of equal probability of quantum states, where the quanta are indistinguishable in agreement with the Bose statistics. Therefore, the analysis of the two approaches presented in this paper highlights the equivalence of quantum theory with classical statistical mechanics for the present system. At the limit ϵo0\epsilon_{o} \rightarrow 0 ; ss \rightarrow \infty ; sϵo=Es \epsilon_{o} = E \sim fixed, where the energy of the particles becomes continuous, p(κ)p(\kappa) transforms to the Boltzmann law P(ϵ)=1ϵeϵϵ      ;      0ϵ<+P(\epsilon) = \displaystyle \frac{1}{\langle \epsilon \rangle}e^{-\frac{\epsilon}{\langle \epsilon \rangle}} \;\;\; ; \;\;\; 0\leq \epsilon < +\infty where ϵ=E/N\langle \epsilon \rangle = E/N. Hence, the classical principle of equal a priori probabilities for the energy of the particles leading to the above law, is justified here by quantum mechanics.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2111.09246,
  title  = {The Principle of equal Probabilities of Quantum States},
  author = {Michalis Psimopoulos and Emilie Dafflon},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2111.09246},
  year   = {2021}
}