Canonical Ensemble

A canonical ensemble is the statistical ensemble representing the possible states of a mechanical system in thermal equilibrium with a heat bath at a fixed temperature. The exchange of energy between the system and the bath is allowed, and the states of the system will differ in total energy.

it can also be referred to as the \(NVT\) ensemble since the probability of states in it depends on the temperature \(T\), the number \(N\) of particles in the system, and the system’s volume \(V\).

For a given canonical ensemble with fixed \(N, V, T\), the Helmholtz free energy \(F\) will be constant too. Some important ensemble averages can be computed directly from \(F\).

Links:

1. Wikipedia — Canonical ensemble.

Contents:

• Boltzmann factor via state energy and temperature
  • boltzmann_factor
  • energy_of_state
  • equilibrium_temperature
  • law
• Canonical partition function of a classical discrete system
  • partition_function
  • boltzmann_factor
  • law