Maxwell–Jüttner distribution
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In physics, the Maxwell–Jüttner distribution, sometimes called Jüttner–Synge distribution, is the distribution of speeds of particles in a hypothetical gas of relativistic particles. Similar to the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution, the Maxwell–Jüttner distribution considers a classical ideal gas where the particles are dilute and do not significantly interact with each other. The distinction from Maxwell–Boltzmann's case is that effects of special relativity are taken into account. In the limit of low temperatures much less than (where is the mass of the kind of particle making up the gas, is the speed of light and is Boltzmann constant), this distribution becomes identical to the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution.
The distribution can be attributed to Ferencz Jüttner, who derived it in 1911.[1] It has become known as the Maxwell–Jüttner distribution by analogy to the name Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution that is commonly used to refer to Maxwell's or Maxwellian distribution.