 Virial pressure from pair correlations

For a differentiable central pair potential in a classical homogeneous three-dimensional fluid, the mechanical virial theorem gives the displayed pressure. The radial distribution function accounts for the probability of each pair separation. In the dilute limit, $g(r)=e^{-v(r)/(k_{B}T)}+O(n)$, and integration by parts yields $B_2(T)=-2\pi {\int }_0^{\infty }[e^{-v(r)/(k_{B}T)}-1]r^{2}dr$. Thus the second virial coefficient controls $p/(n{k}_{B}T)=1+B_{2}n+\cdots$. A few virial terms are a low-density approximation, not generally a converged description of a dense liquid. A discontinuous hard core needs its contact form or a limiting argument.