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| | Statistical ensemble (mathematical physics) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
 | | In mathematical physics, especially as introduced into statistical mechanics and thermodynamics by J. |
| | Willard Gibbs in 1878, an ensemble (also statistical ensemble or thermodynamic ensemble) is an idealization consisting of a large number of mental copies (possibly infinitely many) of a system, considered all at once, each of which represents a possible state that the real system might be in. |
| | The notional size of the mental ensembles in thermodynamics, statistical mechanics and quantum statistical mechanics can be very large indeed, to include every possible microscopic state the system could be in, consistent with its observed macroscopic properties. |
| en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Statistical_ensemble (1144 words) |
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