Hi,
I have a question about the partition function.
It is defined as ## Z = \sum_{i} e^{-\beta \epsilon_{i}} ## where ##\epsilon_i## denotes the amount of energy transferred from the large system to the small system. By using the formula for the Shannon-entropy ##S = - k \sum_i P_i \log P_i## (with ##k## a random constant or ##k_B## in this case), I end up with the following: $$ S = - k \sum_i P_i \log P_i = (k \sum_i P_i \beta \epsilon_i) + (k \sum_i P_i \log Z) = \frac{U}{T} + k \log Z $$
This simplifies to ##Z = e^{-\beta F}## by using the Helmholtz free energy defined as ##F = U - T S##. But Boltzmann's formula for entropy states ##S = k \log \Omega##, where ##\Omega## denotes the number of possible microstate for a given macrostate. So we will get $$ \Omega = e^{S/k} = e^{\beta (U - F)} = Z e^{\beta U} $$
So the partition function is related to the number of microstates, but multiplied by a factor ##e^{\beta U}##. And this bring me to my question: why is it multiplied by that factor? Maybe the answer is quite simple, but I can't seem to think of anything.
I have a question about the partition function.
It is defined as ## Z = \sum_{i} e^{-\beta \epsilon_{i}} ## where ##\epsilon_i## denotes the amount of energy transferred from the large system to the small system. By using the formula for the Shannon-entropy ##S = - k \sum_i P_i \log P_i## (with ##k## a random constant or ##k_B## in this case), I end up with the following: $$ S = - k \sum_i P_i \log P_i = (k \sum_i P_i \beta \epsilon_i) + (k \sum_i P_i \log Z) = \frac{U}{T} + k \log Z $$
This simplifies to ##Z = e^{-\beta F}## by using the Helmholtz free energy defined as ##F = U - T S##. But Boltzmann's formula for entropy states ##S = k \log \Omega##, where ##\Omega## denotes the number of possible microstate for a given macrostate. So we will get $$ \Omega = e^{S/k} = e^{\beta (U - F)} = Z e^{\beta U} $$
So the partition function is related to the number of microstates, but multiplied by a factor ##e^{\beta U}##. And this bring me to my question: why is it multiplied by that factor? Maybe the answer is quite simple, but I can't seem to think of anything.