Chapter 7 — Canonical Ensemble and Grand Canonical Ensemble

Huang, Statistical Mechanics 2ed — Chapter 7

This chapter introduces the canonical and grand canonical ensembles: the workhorses of statistical mechanics for systems in contact with heat baths and particle reservoirs.

Sections

• 7.1 The Canonical Ensemble
• 7.2 Energy Fluctuations in the Canonical Ensemble
• 7.3 The Grand Canonical Ensemble
• 7.4 Density Fluctuations in the Grand Canonical Ensemble
• 7.5 The Chemical Potential
• 7.6 Equivalence of Ensembles