Abstract
In quantum statistical mechanics one has the fundamental object ρ(β; x a,x b), a matrix entry which defines the density matrix ρl, given in the Feynman formulation by the Euclidean path integral of the preceding chapter:
where \(\beta = \tfrac{1}{{kT}}\) is the inverse temperature \(\tfrac{1}{T}\) up to a constant \(\tfrac{1}{k}\), k being Boltzmann’s constant. From ρ one obtains the all-important partition function Ζ as a trace:
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© 2003 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Williams, F. (2003). The Density Matrix and Partition Function in Quantum Statistical Mechanics. In: Topics in Quantum Mechanics. Progress in Mathematical Physics, vol 27. Birkhäuser, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-0009-3_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-0009-3_15
Publisher Name: Birkhäuser, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-6571-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-0009-3
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