Helmholtz energy function
Helmholtz energy function (Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz) Definition of \(A\) (for arbeit):
\[\left.A\right.=U-TS\]
where U is the internal energy, T is the temperature and S is the entropy. (TS) is a conjugate pair. The differential of this function is
\[\left.dA\right.=dU-TdS-SdT\]
From the second law of thermodynamics one obtains
\[\left.dA\right.=TdS -pdV -TdS-SdT\]
thus one arrives at
\[\left.dA\right.=-pdV-SdT\].
For A(T,V) one has the following total differential
\[dA=\left(\frac{\partial A}{\partial T}\right)_V dT + \left(\frac{\partial A}{\partial V}\right)_T dV\]
The following equation provides a link between classical thermodynamics and statistical mechanics:
\[\left.A\right.=-k_B T \ln Q_{NVT}\]
where \(k_B\) is the Boltzmann constant, T is the temperature, and \(Q_{NVT}\) is the canonical ensemble partition function.
