Mayer f-function

Definition

Consider a system of classical particles interacting through a pair-wise potential :V(\mathbf{i},\mathbf{j}) where the bold labels \mathbf{i} and \mathbf{j} denote the continuous degrees of freedom associated with the particles, e.g., :\mathbf{i}=\mathbf{r}_i for spherically symmetric particles and :\mathbf{i}=(\mathbf{r}i,\Omega_i) for rigid non-spherical particles where \mathbf{r} denotes position and \Omega the orientation parametrized e.g. by Euler angles. The Mayer f-function is then defined as :f(\mathbf{i},\mathbf{j})=e^{-\beta V(\mathbf{i},\mathbf{j})}-1 where \beta=(k{B}T)^{-1} the inverse absolute temperature in units of energy−1 .

Notes