Paper 2, Section II, D
Write down the partition function for a single classical non-relativistic particle of mass moving in three dimensions in a potential and in equilibrium with a heat bath at temperature .
A system of non-interacting classical non-relativistic particles, in equilibrium at temperature , is placed in a potential
where is a positive integer. Using the partition function, show that the free energy is
where
Explain the physical relevance of the constant term in the expression .
Viewing as an external parameter, akin to volume, compute the conjugate pressure and show that the equation of state coincides with that of an ideal gas.
Compute the energy , heat capacity and entropy of the gas. Determine the local particle number density as a function of .