Published February 7, 2011 | Version v1
Journal article

Classical relativistic ideal gas in thermodynamic equilibrium in a uniformly accelerated reference frame

  • 1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver V6T 1Z1 (Canada)

Description

A classical (non-quantum-mechanical) relativistic ideal gas in thermodynamic equilibrium in a uniformly accelerated frame of reference is studied using Gibbs's microcanonical and grand canonical formulations of statistical mechanics. Using these methods explicit expressions for the particle, energy and entropy density distributions are obtained, which are found to be in agreement with the well-known results of the relativistic formulation of Boltzmann's kinetic theory. Explicit expressions for the total entropy, total energy and rest mass of the gas are obtained. The position of the center of mass of the gas in equilibrium is found. The non-relativistic and ultrarelativistic approximations are also considered. The phase space volume of the system is calculated explicitly in the ultrarelativistic approximation.

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0264-9381/28/3/035004

Additional details

Identifiers

DOI
10.1088/0264-9381/28/3/035004;
PII
S0264-9381(11)72424-8;

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Classical and Quantum Gravity
Journal Volume
28
Journal Issue
3
Journal Page Range
[11 p.]
ISSN
0264-9381
CODEN
CQGRDG