Mayer f-function explained

The Mayer f-function is an auxiliary function that often appears in the series expansion of thermodynamic quantities related to classical many-particle systems.^[1] It is named after chemist and physicist Joseph Edward Mayer.

Definition

Consider a system of classical particles interacting through a pair-wise potential

V( i , j ) where the bold labels i and j denote the continuous degrees of freedom associated with the particles, e.g., i = r _{i} for spherically symmetric particles andi = ( r _{i,\Omega} _{i)} for rigid non-spherical particles where r denotes position and \Omega the orientation parametrized e.g. by Euler angles. The Mayer f-function is then defined asf( i , j ) = e ^{-\beta} -1 where \beta = (k _{B} T) ^{-1} the inverse absolute temperature in units of energy⁻¹ .

See also

• Virial coefficient
• Cluster expansion
• Excluded volume

Notes and References

1. Donald Allan McQuarrie, Statistical Mechanics (HarperCollins, 1976), page 228