Table Of ContentQUANTUM STATISTICAL
MECHANICS IN THE
NATURAL SCIENCES
Studiesinthe NaturalSciences
ASeries from the Centerfor Theoretical Studies
UniversityofMiami, CoralGables,Florida
Volume1- IMPACTOFBASICRESEARCH ONTECHNOLOGY
Edited by Behram Kursunoglu andArnold Perlmutter.1973
Volume2- FUNDAMENTALINTERACTIONSIN PHYSICS
Edited by Behram Kursunoglu, Arnold Perlmutter,
Steven M.BrQwn, Mou-Shan Chen,T.PatrickColeman,
Werner Eissner, Joseph Hubbard, Chun-Chian Lu,
StephanL.Mintz,andMarioRasetti• 1973
Volume3-FUNDAMENTALINTERACTIONS IN PHYSICSAND ASTROPHYSICS
Edited by Behram Kursunoglu, Steven Weinberg, ArthurS. Wightman,
GeoffreyIverson,Arnold Perlmutter, andStephanl.Mintz.1973
Volume4-QUANTUMSTATISTICALMECHANICSINTHE NATURALSCIENCES
Edited byBehram Kursunoglu,StephanL. Mintz,SusanM.Widmayer,
Mou-ShanChen,C.S. Hui,JosephHubbard,JosephF. Malerba,
LaurenceMittag, andGeorgeSoukup• 1974
Volume5-FUNDAMENTALTHEORIES IN PHYSICS
Edited by Stephan L.Mintz,LaurenceMittag,Susan M.Widmayer,
Chui-ShuenHui,andJosephF. Malerba.1974
Volume6- PROGRESS INTHENEUROSCIENCESANDRELATEDFIELDS
Editedby Behram Kursunoglu, Stephan L. Mintz,Susan M.Widmayer,
Chui-Shuen Hui,Joseph Hubbard, andJosephF. Malerba.1974
A Continuation Order Plan is available for this series. A continuation order will bring
delivery of each new volume immediately upon publication. Volumes are billed only upon
actual shipment. For further information please contact the publisher.
QUANTUM STATISTICAL
MECHANICS IN THE
NATURAL SCIENCES
A Volume Dedicated to Lars Onsager
on the Occasion ofhis Seventieth Birthday
Conference Chairman
Behram Kursunoglu
Editors
Stephan L. Mintz
and
Susan M. Widmayer
Scientific Secretaries
Mou-Shan Chen Joseph Malerba
C. S. Hui Laurence Mittag
Joseph Hubbard George Soukup
Center for Theoretical Studies
University of Miami
Coral Gables, Florida
PLENUM PRESS • NEW YORK AND LONDON
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Coral GablesConferenceon Unityin the Natural Sciences, UniversityofMiami, 1973.
Quantum statistical mechanics inthe natural sciences.
(Studies inthenaturalsciences,v. 4)
Includesbibliographies.
1. Statistical mechanics-Congresses. 2. Molecular biology-Congresses. 3. Quan
tum theory-Congresses. 4. Low temperatures-Congresses. 5. Onsager, Lars, 1903-
I. Mintz, Stephan,ed. II. Title. III.Series.
QC174.7.C67 1973 530 74-9553
ISBN-13:978-1-4613-4534-3 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4613-4532-9
001: 10.1007/978-1-4613-4532-9
Proceedingsofthe1973CoralGablesConferenceon"UnityIntheNaturalSciences"
held atthe UniversityofMiamibytheCenterforTheoretical Studies
on November27·28,1973
©1974Plenum Press, NewYork
Softcoverreprintofthehardcover1stedition1974
ADivisionofPlenum PublishingCorporation
227West17thStreet, NewYork, N.Y.10011
UnitedKingdom editionpublishedbyPlenumPress, London
ADivisionofPlenum PublishingCompany, Ltd.
4a LowerJohnStreet, London,W1R3PD, England
All rights reserved
Nopartofthis bookmaybereproduced, stored inaretrieval system, ortransmitted,
Inanyform orbyanymeans, electronic,mechanical,photocopying, microfilming,
recording,orotherwise, withoutwrittenpermissionfromthePublisher
COUNCIL DEDICATION
The Scientific Council of the Center for Theo
retical Studies of the University of Miami at its annual
meeting on January 7, 1973, passed a motion to dedicate
the conference entitled ;'Unity in the Natural Sciences"
to Professor Lars Onsager, one of the foremost men of
science of our time, on the occasion of his Seventieth
Birthday. The Council is especially proud to honor a
great man, who is also a colleague and member of the
Center. We know that all of the participants of the
Conference and his friends everywhere join with us in
communicating this tribute to Professor Onsager and we
look forward to Professor Onsager's accep~ance of the
dedication of our 1983 conference.
MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL
Foy Kohler
Willis Lamb
Carl McKenry
Lars Onsager
Julian Schwinger
Edward Teller
Behram Kursunoglu, Chairman
v
Lars Onsager
PRE F ACE
This volume is the Proceedings of the 1973 Coral
n
Gables Conference on nUnity in the Natural Sciences
held at the University of Miami by the Center for Theo
retical Studies on November 27th and 28th, 1973, in
honor of Lars Onsager on the occasion of his Seventieth
Birthday.
The papers presented at this conference included
those fields in which Professor Onsager has made his
greatest contributions: Statistical mechanics; molecular
biology and quantum mechanics; and low temperature
physics. Consequently, we have divided this volume into
three sections pertaining to each of the above mentioned
topics.
Although the subject matter in each section is dis
tinct, the thread of Professor Onsager's work, partic
ularly in statistical mechanics, unifies the book and
demonstrates the interdependence of the natural sciences.
This theme of the Unity in the Natural Sciences has
been the subject of a number of gatherings sponsored by
the Center for Theoretical Studies, particularly in its
Orbis Scientiae.
For the most part, the papers in this volume re
present the state of the art of molecular biology,
statistical mechanics and low temperature physics, and
quantum mechanics. The contributors are friends, col-
vii
viii PREFACE
leagues and, in many cases, students, of Professor
Onsager. Professor Onsager, himself, has contributed a
paper on Illife in early times" to the volume. Among
the topics discussed are some interesting applications
of low temperature experimental techniques to cardiology
and astrophysics.
We would like to express our particular appreciation
to Mrs. Helga Billings and Miss Sara Lesser for their
excellent typing of these Proceedings and to Mrs.
Jacquelyn Zagursky, as well as to Mrs. Billings and
Miss Lesser for their invaluable assistance with the
details of the conference and the publication of these
Proceedings.
The Editors
CONTENTS
Section One
BIOLOGY
Life in the Early Days
Lars Onsager.................................... 1
The Fluctuating Enzyme
Giorgio Careri.................................. 15
Diffusion Control in Biochemical Reactions
Manfred Eigen................................... 37
Phase Transitions of Phospholipids
Julian Sturtevant............................... 63
Theory and Density Measurements of the Lipid Bilayer
Phase Transition
John F. Nagle................................... 85
Stability of Helical Nucleic Acids
Neville R. Kallenbach........................... 95
Thermodynamic Perspectives and the Origin of Life
Sidney W. Fox................................... 119
Section Two
STATISTICAL MECHANICS
High Frequency Dielectric Response in Dipolar Systems
Roberto Lobo, John E. Robinson, Sergio Rodriguez. 143
ix
x CONTENTS
Exact Derivation of the Onsager Limiting Law
Thomas J. Murphy 157
The Effect of Wall Charge on the Capillary
Rise of Electrolytes
Lars Onsager, Edmund Drauglis 167
Density of States of Topologically Disordered
Amorphous Semiconductors
Jill C. Bonner, J. F. Nagle 201
Irreversibility
Willis E. Lamb, Jr. 213
Surface Specific Heat of Crystals. I
Lars Onsager, Tag Young Moon 227
Zeros of the Grand Partition Function
L. K. Runnels 281
Response, Relaxation and Fluctuation
Ryogo Kubo 299
What is New in the Ising Model
Joel L. Lebowitz............................... 327
Critical Exponents Below T Via Skeleton Graphs
(Ising-Like Case) c
Joseph L. McCauley, Jr., Elihu Abrahams 337
Section Three
QUANTUM MECHANICS AND LOW TEMPERATURE PHYSICS
The Ghost of a Vanished Vortex Ring
Russell J. Donnelly............................. 359
Propagation of Second Sound and Heat Pulses
in Solid Helium Crystals
Henry A. Fairbank, Karl H. Mueller 403
Low Temperature and Macroscopic Quantization:
Tools for Experimental Physicists
William Fairbank................................ 413
