Exact Analytic Second Virial Coefficient for the Lennard-Jones Fluid

Abstract

An exact analytic form for the second virial coefficient, valid for the entire range of temperature, is presented for the Lennard-Jones fluid in this paper. It is derived by making variable transformation that gives rise to the Hamiltonian mimicking a harmonic oscillator-like dynamics for negative energy. It is given in terms of parabolic cylinder functions or confluent hypergeometric functions. Exact limiting laws for the second virial coefficient in the limits of low and high temperatuers are also deduced for the Lennard-Jones fluid.