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

Definition

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

denote the continuous degrees of freedom associated with the particles, e.g.,

for spherically symmetric particles and

the orientation parametrized e.g. by Euler angles. The Mayer f-function is then defined as

the inverse absolute temperature in units of energy−1 .

See also

• Virial coefficient

• Cluster expansion

• Excluded volume

Notes