Abstract
The authors apply the theory of classical canonical ensembles to a one-dimensional system of 'soft rods' and obtain an exact expression for the partition function. In the model, each particle is composed of two mass points attracting or repelling one another according to a potential linearly dependent on their separation. Mass points, whether they constitute a given particle or are members of different particles, are presumed to be unable to pass one another. This is a very simple model, therefore, of a system whose internal and external degrees of freedom interact. In order to eliminate end effects without appealing to the thermodynamic limit, they employ a coordinate system with periodic boundary conditions. The methodology of evaluation is more general than the solution for their particular model which, for a finite system, involves in the partition function a modified Bessel function of half-integral order.
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