Particle Number Fluctuations in the Microcanonical Ensemble

Abstract

Particle number fluctuations are studied in the microcanonical ensemble. For the Boltzmann statistics we deduce exact analytical formulae for the microcanonical partition functions in the case of non-interacting massless neutral particles and charged particles with zero net charge. The particle number fluctuations are calculated and we find that in the microcanonical ensemble they are suppressed in comparison to the fluctuations in the canonical and grand canonical ensembles. This remains valid in the thermodynamic limit too, so that the well-known equivalence of all statistical ensembles refers to average quantities, but does not apply to fluctuations. In the thermodynamic limit we are able to calculate the particle number fluctuations in the system of massive bosons and fermions when the exact conservation laws of both the energy and charge are taken into account.