Quantum Statistics of Multicomponent Systems

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Abstract
Methods of quantum statistics are applied to the general multicomponent system and explicit rules for the calculation of thermodynamic quantities and distribution functions in terms of the basic particle interactions are derived. Particular attention is given to the nonrelativistic system of charged particles, and several inherent difficulties are investigated and treated. Included are the renormalization, by the Λ transformation, of charged‐particle energy contributions due to the emission and reabsorption of photons and the formal sum over all long‐range Coulomb effects wherever (diagrammatically) they give divergent expressions. The latter sum is shown to result in the familiar Debye‐Hückel theory in the high‐temperature, low‐density limit.