Generalized Boltzmann distributions for systems strongly coupled to large finite bath -- a microcanonical approach

Abstract

The theory of probability shows that, as the fraction $X_n/Y\to 0$, the conditional probability for $X_n$, given $X_n+Y \in h_{\delta}:=[h, h+\delta]$, has a limit law $f_{X_n}(x)e^{-\psi_n(h_\delta)x}$, where $\psi_n(h_\delta) $ equals to $[\partial \ln P(Y \in y_\delta)/\partial y]_{y=h}$ plus an additional term, contributed from the correlation between $X_n$ and bath $Y$. By applying this limit law to an isolated composite system consisting of two strongly coupled parts, a system of interest and a large but finite bath, we derive the generalized Boltzmann distribution law for the system of interest in the exponential form of a redefined Hamiltonian and corrected Boltzmann temperature that reflects the modification due to strong system-bath coupling and the large but finite bath.