Why is the partition function dimensionless?
en.wikipedia.org
Why is the partition function dimensionless?
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Re: Why is the partition function dimensionless?
#2Partition Function (statistical mechanics)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_function_(statistica...
Re: Why is the partition function dimensionless?
#3Ask HN :)
Re: Why is the partition function dimensionless?
#4Strictly mathematically speaking, the partition function is a sum of exponentials, which are each dimensionless.
From a probabilistic perspective, the partition function is the normalizing constant for the Boltzmann distribution; if the partition function takes value Z, then the probability of any state of your system is given by P_state = exp(-E_state/T) / Z. Since the numerator is dimensionless (it represents an unnormalized probability), and the left hand side represents a probability (which is dimensionless), the denominator Z must also be dimensionless.