June 3, 2002
The number partitioning problem can be interpreted physically in terms of a thermally isolated non-interacting Bose gas trapped in a one-dimensional harmonic oscillator potential. We exploit this analogy to characterize, by means of a detour to the Bose gas within the canonical ensemble, the probability distribution for finding a specified number of summands in a randomly chosen partition of an integer n. It is shown that this distribution approaches its asymptotics only for n > 10^10.
Similar papers 1
September 21, 2016
In this paper, we discuss P(n), the number of ways in which a given integer n may be written as a sum of primes. In particular, an asymptotic form P_as(n) valid for n towards infinity is obtained analytically using standard techniques of quantum statistical mechanics. First, the bosonic partition function of primes, or the generating function of unrestricted prime partitions in number theory, is constructed. Next, the density of states is obtained using the saddle-point metho...
July 20, 2005
We relate the Fermi-Dirac statistics of an ideal Fermi gas in a harmonic trap to partitions of given integers into distinct parts, studied in number theory. Using methods of quantum statistical physics we derive analytic expressions for cumulants of the probability distribution of the number of different partitions.
March 3, 2016
The treatment of the number-theoretical problem of integer partitions within the approach of statistical mechanics is discussed. Historical overview is given and known asymptotic results for linear and plane partitions are reproduced. From numerical analysis of restricted plane partitions an asymptotic formula is conjectured for an intermediate number of parts.
September 8, 2003
This paper exploits the connection between the quantum many-particle density of states and the partitioning of an integer in number theory. For $N$ bosons in a one dimensional harmonic oscillator potential, it is well known that the asymptotic (N -> infinity) density of states is identical to the Hardy-Ramanujan formula for the partitions p(n), of a number n into a sum of integers. We show that the same statistical mechanics technique for the density of states of bosons in a ...
March 11, 2004
The problem to express a natural number N as a product of natural numbers without regard to order corresponds to a thermally isolated non-interacting Bose gas in a one-dimensional potential with logarithmic energy eigenvalues. This correspondence is used for characterising the probability distribution which governs the number of factors in a randomly selected factorisation of an asymptotically large N. Asymptotic upper bounds on both the skewness and the excess of this distri...
June 26, 2013
We consider procedures of sampling parts from a random integer partition. We determine asymptotically the probabilty distribution of the randomly-selected part whenever the positive integer that is partitioned becomes large.
October 4, 2012
The problem of integer partitions is addressed using the microcanonical approach which is based on the analogy between this problem in the number theory and the calculation of microstates of a many-boson system. For ordinary (one-dimensional) partitions, the correction to the leading asymptotic is obtained. The estimate for the number of two-dimensional (plane) partitions coincides with known asymptotic results.
January 21, 2019
We obtain an asymptotic expansion for $p(n)$, the number of partitions of a natural number $n$, starting from a formula that relates its generating function $f(t), t\in (0,1)$ with the characteristic functions of a family of sums of independent random variables indexed by $t$. The expansion consists of a factor (which is the leading term) times an asymptotic series expansion in inverse powers of a quantity that grows as $\sqrt n$ as $n\to \infty$, and whose coefficients are s...
September 4, 1997
We question the validity of the grand canonical ensemble for the description of Bose-Einstein condensation of small ideal Bose gas samples in isolated harmonic traps. While the ground state fraction and the specific heat capacity can be well approximated with the help of the conventional grand canonical arguments, the calculation of the fluctuation of the number of particles contained in the condensate requires a microcanonical approach. Resorting to the theory of restricted ...
January 17, 2014
In the paper, the quantum-statistical approach is used to estimate the number of restricted plane partitions of an integer $n$ with the number of parts not exceeding some finite $N$. The analogy between this number-theoretical problem and the enumeration of microstates of the ideal two-dimensional Bose-gas is used. The conjectured expression for the number of restricted plane partitions shows a good agreement between calculated and exact values for $n=10\div20$.