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The grand canonical partition function applies to a grand canonical ensemble, in which the system can exchange both heat and particles with the environment, at fixed temperature, volume, and chemical potential. Other types of partition functions can be defined for different circumstances; see partition function (mathematics) for
Such is the case for the partition function in quantum field theory. A common, useful modification to the partition function is to introduce auxiliary functions. This allows, for example, the partition function to be used as a generating function for correlation functions. This is discussed in greater detail below.
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.
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.
In statistical mechanics, the translational partition function, is that part of the partition function resulting from the movement (translation) of the center of mass. For a single atom or molecule in a low pressure gas, neglecting the interactions of molecules , the canonical ensemble q T {\displaystyle q_{T}} can be approximated by: [ 1 ]
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 ...
In quantum field theory, partition functions are generating functionals for correlation functions, making them key objects of study in the path integral formalism. They are the imaginary time versions of statistical mechanics partition functions , giving rise to a close connection between these two areas of physics.
This is almost the partition function for the -ensemble, but it has units of volume, an unavoidable consequence of taking the above sum over volumes into an integral. Restoring the constant C {\displaystyle C} yields the proper result for Δ ( N , P , T ) {\displaystyle \Delta (N,P,T)} .