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In physics, a partition function describes the statistical properties of a system in thermodynamic equilibrium. [ citation needed ] Partition functions are functions of the thermodynamic state variables , such as the temperature and volume .
The partition function or configuration integral, as used in probability theory, information theory and dynamical systems, is a generalization of the definition of a partition function in statistical mechanics. It is a special case of a normalizing constant in probability theory, for the Boltzmann distribution.
What has been presented above is essentially a derivation of the canonical partition function. As one can see by comparing the definitions, the Boltzmann sum over states is equal to the canonical partition function. Exactly the same approach can be used to derive Fermi–Dirac and Bose–Einstein statistics.
A partition in which no part occurs more than once is called strict, or is said to be a partition into distinct parts. The function q(n) gives the number of these strict partitions of the given sum n. For example, q(3) = 2 because the partitions 3 and 1 + 2 are strict, while the third partition 1 + 1 + 1 of 3 has repeated parts.
Fermi–Dirac statistics is a type of quantum statistics that applies to the physics of a system consisting of many non-interacting, identical particles that obey the Pauli exclusion principle. A result is the Fermi–Dirac distribution of particles over energy states .
In statistical mechanics, the transfer-matrix method is a mathematical technique which is used to write the partition function into a simpler form. It was introduced in 1941 by Hans Kramers and Gregory Wannier.
Vibrational partition function, partition function for the vibrational modes of a molecule; Partition function (quantum field theory), partition function for quantum path integrals; Partition function (mathematics), generalization of the statistical mechanics concept; Partition function (number theory), the number of possible partitions of an ...
The partition function or configuration integral, as used in probability theory, information science and dynamical systems, is an abstraction of the definition of a partition function in statistical mechanics. In statistical mechanics, the partition function, Z, encodes the statistical properties of a system in thermodynamic equilibrium.