The principle of detailed balancing is used in a consistent manner to derive equilibrium distribution functions, such as the Maxwell-Boltzmann and Saha-Boltzmann distributions, and the Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac distributions. The same technique is then applied to matter at very high temperatures at which radiation and elementary particles are in thermodynamic equilibrium, that is, to situations postulated in supernova explosions and the early stages of an evolutionary universe.
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© 1970 American Association of Physics Teachers.
1970
American Association of Physics Teachers
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