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Part of the book series: Springer Series on Atomic, Optical, and Plasma Physics ((SSAOPP,volume 73))

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Abstract

The microcanonical temperature is defined as the reciprocal of the logarithmic derivative of the level density of an isolated system, in analogy to the derivation of the canonical temperature but for a finite heat bath composed of the system itself. It is shown that the error introduced by the finite heat capacity of the system can be cancelled to a very good approximation by the introduction of a correction term to the temperature. The use of the microcanonical temperature is discussed in connection with activated processes and with the use of canonical partition functions for the calculation of microcanonical partition functions.

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Hansen, K. (2013). Microcanonical Temperature. In: Statistical Physics of Nanoparticles in the Gas Phase. Springer Series on Atomic, Optical, and Plasma Physics, vol 73. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5839-1_3

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