[Physics] State equation in grand canonical ensemble

quantum-statisticsstatistical mechanicsthermodynamics

My teacher told us that $$ \ln Z = \frac{PV}{kT} $$ is the equation of state for an ideal gas, being $Z$ the grand canonical partition function and $k$ the Boltzmann constant. Where does this formula come from? (we then used this formula for studying Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac systems).

I have tried the following: in the grand canonical ensemble I know that $\Xi = -kT \ln Z $ is the grand canonical potential. Also, from thermodynamics, I know that the grand canonical potential differential is $ d\Xi = -S~dT – P~dV – N~d\mu $ so, integrating, $ \Xi = -PV + f(\mu,T) $ where $f$ is some unknown function. Equating this two facts about $\Xi$ gives $$ \ln Z = \frac{PV – f(\mu,T)}{kT} $$ but how can be shown that $f(\mu,T)=0$?

Best Answer

I have just found a way to prove that $\ln Z = \frac{PV}{kT}$ as follows: the grand canonical potential is defined, in thermodynamics, to be $ \Xi = U - TS - \mu N $. Using Euler relation (Callen, eq. (3.6), also known as Euler integrals here in Wikipedia) $ U = TS - PV + \mu N $ then $$ \Xi = -PV. $$

On the other hand the grand canonical potential can be obtained from the grand canonical partition function as $$ \Xi = -kT \ln Z .$$

Now it is trivial that $$ \ln Z = \frac{PV}{kT} $$

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