Derivation of Grand Canonical Ensemble from scratch?

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on deriving the grand canonical partition function using combinatorial arguments in statistical physics. The participant seeks to understand the probability of having N_i particles in a state with energy ε_i, given a fixed chemical potential μ and temperature T. They reference the multiplicity formula Ω = ∏_i (g_i^N_i / N_i!) and express a desire to derive key thermodynamic quantities such as pressure (P), volume (V), entropy (S), energy (E), and chemical potential (μ) from fundamental principles. The participant concludes that partitioning the universe by energy ε_i and particle number N_i leads to a natural derivation of the grand canonical ensemble.

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  • Understanding of statistical physics concepts, particularly the grand canonical ensemble.
  • Familiarity with combinatorial methods in statistical mechanics.
  • Knowledge of thermodynamic identities and their applications.
  • Basic grasp of Boltzmann statistics and its derivation.
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  • Study the derivation of the grand canonical partition function using combinatorial arguments.
  • Explore the relationship between chemical potential and particle number in non-interacting systems.
  • Investigate the application of information theory to statistical mechanics, referencing Jaynes' work.
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Students and researchers in statistical physics, particularly those interested in the grand canonical ensemble and its derivations, as well as anyone exploring the intersection of combinatorial methods and thermodynamic principles.

tim_lou
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I've been studying and thinking about statistical physics for a couple days now... and what bothers me is the grand canonical partition function. Namely that for a system with fixed chemical potential and energy \epsilon_i the probability of having N_i particle in that state is proportional to:

P\sim \exp[-\beta(\epsilon_i -\mu N_i)]

I completely understand the derivation from book, basically it invokes the thermodynamic identity. (the dS= bla bla and what not)

However, I really want to view statistical physics in a whole different view point. I want to be able to derive P, V, S, E, and chemical potential using basic combinatoric argument and prove that the chemical potential is indeed G/N (for non-interacting particles).

I've read some other books and understand where the Boltzmann statistics comes in. Basically, the books use combinatorics to show that for classical particles, the multiplicity is:
\Omega=\prod_i \frac{g_i^{N_i}}{N_i!}

and from that, and a couple energy and particles constrain, Boltzmann statistics naturally comes in. However, is there a similar way to proceed for the grand canonical partition function?

Let me make this question precise:

Suppose that we have the universe at a fixed temperature, T, and there is only one species of particle and the university has N of these particles (N is not fixed). Further suppose that there are fixed number of states of energy, and for each energy \epsilon_i[/tex] we have degeneracy g_i (both are fixed constants).<br /> <br /> suppose the multiplicity is given by:<br /> \Omega=\prod_i \frac{g_i^{N_i}}{N_i!}<br /> <br /> we look at the sub system (of the universe) that has energy \epsilon_i, what is the probability that this system has N_i particles? how would the chemical potential come in?<br /> <br /> I know that the energy of the universe must be constant:<br /> E=\sum_i \epsilon_i N_i<br /> <br /> Do I need further constrains on the problem or what?
 
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For an alternate derivation of the Grand Canonical Assembly from the viewpoint of information theory and inference, including derivation of the quantities you are interested in, see

Jaynes, E. T., 1957, `Information Theory and Statistical Mechanics,' Phys. Rev., 106, 620.

http://bayes.wustl.edu/etj/articles/theory.1.pdf"
 
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Thank you for the reply, marcusl, though I did not understand a lot of the things in the article you posted. However, I have found some answers from some statistical physics books I found.

the answer is very simple... basically instead of partition the whole universe under one parameter, one partitions the universe using \epsilon_i and N_i[/tex]... and the result follows naturally.
 

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