\sect{Baruch's A23.} An equipartition type relation is obtained in the following way: Consider N particles with coordinates $\vec q_i$, and conjugate momenta $\vec p_i$ (with $i = 1,...,N$), and subject to a Hamiltonian ${\cal H}({\vec p_i},{\vec q_i})$. \begin{itemize} \item [(a)] Write down the expression for the classical canonic partition function $Z[{\cal H}]$ and show that it is invariant under the rescaling $\vec q_i\rightarrow \lambda {\vec q_i}$ and ${\vec p_i}\rightarrow {\vec p_i}/\lambda $ of a pair of conjugate variables, i.e. $Z[{\cal H}_{\lambda}]$ is independent of $\lambda$, where ${\cal H}_{\lambda}$ is the Hamiltonian obtained after the above rescaling. \item[(b)] Now assume a Hamiltonian of the form ${\cal H}=\sum_i\frac{({\vec p_i})^2}{2m}+V(\{{\vec q_i}\})$. Use the result that $Z[{\cal H}_{\lambda}]$ is independent of $\lambda$ to prove the virial relation \[\left\langle \frac{({\vec p_1})^2}{m}\right\rangle = \left\langle \frac{\partial V}{\partial {\vec q}_1}\cdot {\vec q}_1\right\rangle\] where the brackets denote thermal averages. \item[(c)] Show that classical equipartition, $\langle x_i\frac{\partial {\cal H}}{\partial x_j}\rangle=\delta_{ij}k_BT$, also yields the result (b). Give an example of a quantum system where classical equipartition fails. \item[(d)] Quantum mechanical version: Write down the expression for the quantum partition function. Show that it is also invariant under the rescalings $\vec q_i\rightarrow \lambda {\vec q_i}$ and ${\vec p_i}\rightarrow {\vec p_i}/\lambda $ where $\vec p_i$ and $\vec q_i$ are now quantum mechanical operators. (Hint: Use Schr\"{o}dinger's equation and $\vec p_i=-i\hbar \partial/\partial \vec q_i$.) Show that the result in (b) is valid also in the quantum case. \end{itemize} %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%