Approximations of the sum of states by Laplace's method for a system of particles with a finite number of energy levels and application to limit theorems (Q2310482)

In this work, the author considers a system composed of \(N\) particles distributed across \(m+1\) energy levels, whose configuration space \(\mathcal A\) can be restricted by further constraints. Such generic picture includes the case of a micro-canonical ensemble, if the total energy is fixed. It is assumed that a sufficiently regular entropy function \(S(x,N)\) is given, for which there is a unique configuration \(x^*\) which maximizes it, and moreover it satisfies one of two possible assumptions: \begin{itemize} \item [a.] \(x^*\) lies in the interior of \(\mathcal A\); \item [b.] \(x^*\) lies on the boundary of \(\mathcal A\) and it is non-critical (i.e., the derivative of the entropy function at the boundary is strictly decreasing). \end{itemize} For these cases, by using Laplace's method the author proves an approximation of the sum of states \[ \Sigma(N) = \sum_{\mathcal A \cap L_N} g(x) e^{S(x,N)}, \] where denotes \(L_N\) the discrete set of possible occupation numbers vectors of \(N\) particles into the \(m+1\) energy levels, and \(g\) is an arbitrary sufficiently smooth function. They then consider the additional assumption that, as \(N\) goes to infinity, \(S(x,N)\) behaves asymptotically as a product of two functions \(h(N)f(x)\), the first depending only on the number of particles \(N\) and the second of the configuration \(x\). For these cases, using the previous approximation they show that the ensemble distribution proportional to \(e^{S(x,N)}\) converges in distribution to the constant \(x^*\), as well obtaining the limiting laws for the fluctuation from the average.