- #1
A Dhingra
- 211
- 1
Hi all
This is probably a naïve question to ask, but I am puzzled by it and need an answer.
The first time I encountered the term 'partition function' that was in context of Boltzmann distribution. But the same formulas of manipulating a partition function ( to obtain free energy, temperature etc.) are used in 1D or 2D (or more) Ising model. It is quite odd that Ising model is about magnetic interactions of spin 1/2 particles, which are fermions, then why do we use partition function with the Boltzmann weight... Shouldn't there be something in the partition function or elsewhere that tells us which distribution we are talking about?
Further, I want to know how is this idea of partition function derived (or obtained) for a Boltzmann distribution, and other than simplifying the problem what is the relevance of this partition function in any distribution?
thanks for any help...
This is probably a naïve question to ask, but I am puzzled by it and need an answer.
The first time I encountered the term 'partition function' that was in context of Boltzmann distribution. But the same formulas of manipulating a partition function ( to obtain free energy, temperature etc.) are used in 1D or 2D (or more) Ising model. It is quite odd that Ising model is about magnetic interactions of spin 1/2 particles, which are fermions, then why do we use partition function with the Boltzmann weight... Shouldn't there be something in the partition function or elsewhere that tells us which distribution we are talking about?
Further, I want to know how is this idea of partition function derived (or obtained) for a Boltzmann distribution, and other than simplifying the problem what is the relevance of this partition function in any distribution?
thanks for any help...