Maximum-entropy derivation of equilibrium ensembles Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Maximizing the Gibbs entropy under normalization alone gives a uniform distribution. Adding a fixed mean-energy constraint gives the Boltzmann distribution .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 ii Paper 4 34C ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
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Here is the probability of microstate , including all occupation data. In the grand canonical ensemble, with energy , particle number , chemical potential and ,Substitution in the Gibbs entropy gives , where and . Differentiating at fixed gives . Therefore
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The chemical potential is the change in internal energy when one particle is added at fixed entropy and volume:Equivalently, for the Helmholtz free energy.
Let a microstate have energy and particle number . Maximizing the Gibbs entropy subject to normalization and fixed mean values of and is the maximum-entropy derivation of equilibrium ensembles. With Lagrange multipliers , , and , varyThe stationarity equation is . Normalization therefore gives the grand canonical ensembleHere is the grand canonical partition function and is the Boltzmann constant.
For one fermionic quantum state of energy , the Pauli exclusion principle permits occupation numbers only . Its two grand-canonical weights are and , so its mean occupation is the Fermi-Dirac distribution
For a free nonrelativistic particle, . In a region of area , the number of wave-vector states in the annulus from to , including the two spin angular momentum states, isSince , the two-dimensional free-electron density of states is constant:
We now use units in which , as in the question. At zero temperature, the Fermi-Dirac distribution is a step function, and henceAt positive temperature the same fixed particle number satisfies the exact relationThusThis is the low-temperature particle-number cancellation for constant density of states. Therefore, for , the mean number of particles in the energy interval is
Finally, compare the internal energy with its zero-temperature value. The thermally excited particles above and holes below have equal leading particle numbers, so their terms proportional to cancel. With ,where the integral follows from the fermion-to-boson thermal integral ratio. Differentiation gives the linear low-temperature heat capacity of a two-dimensional Fermi gas:The requested power law is therefore linear in , with exponent one.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ii Paper 2 37A b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
For the Gibbs entropyfirst maximize subject only to over accessible microstates. A Lagrange multiplier givesso every is equal. Normalization yields the microcanonical ensemble
For the canonical ensemble, impose both normalization and the mean-energy constraint . Stationarity ofgives . The canonical partition function fixes , soThermodynamic consistency identifies . This is the maximum-entropy derivation of equilibrium ensembles.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ii Paper 2 37A c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25