Mean characteristics of Gibbsian point processes (Q756875)

Mayer's method of expanding the logarithm of the grand partition function of statistical mechanics into a power series in the activity parameter is extended to logarithms of ``mean characteristics'' of Gibbsian point processes on the plane. These mean characteristics are of the form \(E\{\prod_{x}g(x)\}\), where E denotes expectation, g is a function satisfying appropriate conditions and the product is taken over the atoms x of the point process. The results obtained include as special cases expansions for correlation functions, nearest neighbour distance distribution functions and spherical contact distribution functions for motion invariant processes. The expansions are valid for sufficiently small values of the activity, and the expressions derived for the corresponding coefficients are useful in obtaining approximations: the author illustrates this with a numerical example.