Recursive calculation of the microcanonical density of states

Abstract

For a classical system of noninteracting particles we establish recursive integral equations for the density of states on the microcanonical ensemble. The recursion can be either on the number of particles or on the dimension of the system. The solution of the integral equations is particularly simple when the single-particle density of states in one dimension follows a power law. Otherwise it can be obtained using a Laplace transform method. Since the Laplace transform of the microcanonical density of states is the canonical partition function, it factorizes for a system of noninteracting particles and the solution of the problem is straightforward. The results are illustrated on several classical examples.