# An interpretation of Tsallis statistics based on polydispersity

## Abstract

It is argued that polydispersed sytems like colloids provide a direct example where Tsallis’ statistical distribution is useful for describig the heirarchical nature of the system based on particle size.

05.20-y, 05.70-a, 61.25.Hq, 64.10.+h

It is believed  that systems which have heirarchical organization in phase-space, involve long-range interactions, display spatio-temporal complexity or have (multi)fractal boundary conditions, are not adequately treated within the statistical framework of Boltzmann and Gibbs. Such sytems are said to exhibit nonextensive behaviour and Tsallis has advanced  a thermostatistical approach based on a generalization of Shannon entropy as

$$S_q^T=\frac{1_{i=1}^W(p_i)^q}{q1}.$$
(1)   
Under the generalized constraints , the maximum entropy principle yields the following equilibrium distribution

$$p_i\{1(1q)\beta \epsilon _i\}^{1/(1q)},$$
(2)   
where $`\beta `$ is the Lagrange multiplier, $`ϵ_i`$ is a random variable like energy, satisfying some constraint analogous to mean value. For $`q1`$, we recover Boltzmann or canonical distribution. Tsallis formalism is finding a growing number of applications  which do lend support to the validity of underlying postulates, still it is not fully established as to what physical principles are involved therein. It has been conjectured  that Tsallis formalism alludes to a scale invariant statistical mechanics. More precisely, Tsallis-like distribution can be derived by assuming an ensemble which has replicas of the same system at different scales. Typical examples of these are the polydispersed systems like polymers, commercial surfactants, colloidal suspensions and critical spin systems on heirarchical lattices. In this letter, we present an interpretation of Tsallis distribution in terms of colloidal polydispersity.

Recently , for the case of Levy flights, the exponential distribution $`\mathrm{exp}(x/\lambda )`$ was mapped onto Tsallis distribution by considering fluctuations in the parameter $`\lambda `$ about the mean value $`\lambda _0`$. The appropriate distribution function turns out to be Gamma distribution

$$f\left(\frac{1}{\lambda }\right)=\frac{1}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(\alpha )}(\alpha \lambda _0)^\alpha \left(\frac{1}{\lambda }\right)^{\alpha 1}\mathrm{exp}\left(\alpha \frac{\lambda _0}{\lambda }\right).$$
(3)   
Thus

$$_0^{\mathrm{}}e^{x/\lambda }f\left(\frac{1}{\lambda }\right)d\left(\frac{1}{\lambda }\right)=\left(1+\frac{1}{\alpha }\frac{x}{\lambda _0}\right)^\alpha ,$$
(4)   
which on identifying $`\alpha =1/(q1)`$, becomes Tsallis-like distribution, Eq. (2). The Tsallis index is given in terms of the relative variance

$$\omega =\frac{\left(\frac{1}{\lambda }\right)^2\frac{1}{\lambda }^2}{\frac{1}{\lambda }^2}=\frac{1}{\alpha }=(q1).$$
(5)   
Now thermodynamically, a polydispersed colloid can be treated as a system with continuously infinite species type -. The fluctuating parameter in this case may be taken as the particle size $`\sigma `$. Moreover, it is usual to describe particle sizes by Gamma or Schulz distribution 

$$p(\sigma )=\frac{1}{\gamma ^\alpha \mathrm{\Gamma }(\alpha )}\sigma ^{\alpha 1}e^{\sigma /\gamma },$$
(6)   
where we have put $`\gamma =\frac{\overline{\sigma }}{\alpha }`$ and $`\overline{\sigma }=\sigma p(\sigma )𝑑\sigma `$. Again using $`\alpha =1/(q1)`$, we find that Tsallis distribution over variable $`\theta `$ can be defined as

$$(1(1q)\overline{\sigma }\theta )^{1/(1q)}=e^{\sigma \theta }p(\sigma )𝑑\sigma .$$
(7)   
In a different language , r.h.s. of the above equation defines the cumulant generating function $`h(\theta )`$ as

$$h(\theta )=\mathrm{ln}e^{\sigma \theta }p(\sigma )𝑑\sigma .$$
(8)   
In other words, cumulant generating function for Schulz distribution is the natural logarithm of Tsallis distribution, (Eq.(7)).

Futhermore as established in , $`h(\theta )`$ is related to combinatorial entropy per particle (which appears in the joint free energy on mixing two systems, for details see ) by a Legendre transform

$$\mathrm{ln}P(m)/N=h(\theta )+m\theta ,$$
(9)   
where $`N`$ is the number of particles in one subsystem and $`m=\frac{h}{\theta }`$ is the moment variable which was taken to be mean size $`_i\sigma _i/N`$.

From Eq. (9), we see that there is a direct relation between Tsallis distribution and combinatorial entropy. From standard thermodynamics, we know that entropy $`S`$ and free energy $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ are related by Legendre transform $`S(M)=\mathrm{\Psi }(\beta )+\beta M`$, where $`\beta `$ is called intensity and mean value $`M`$ is called extensity. Thus noting that $`\theta \beta `$, $`Mm`$, we infer that $`h(\theta )`$ is a kind of generalized free energy per particle. Also as free energy $`\mathrm{\Psi }=\mathrm{ln}Z`$, where $`Z`$ is the partition function, so from Eq. (8) we conclude that Eq. (7) represents generalized partition function per particle.

We see from Eq. (5) that relative variance of particle size with respect to Schulz distribution is equal to $`(q1)`$. In other words, the degree of nonextensivity $`(q1)`$ is directly reflected in the polydispersity. As the relative variance goes to zero (or $`q1`$), we have monodisperse colloidal system and we expect that statistical description of the system goes from Tsallis to Boltzmann distribution.

Note that it is not implied that statistical mechanics of polydispersity is completely equivalent to Tsallis statistics. Rather we propose that heirarchical nature of systems describable under Tsallis formalism is captured by polydispersity. Tsallis formalism also treats systems with long range interactions and it doesn’t seem correct to say that such interactions are ”switched on” in going from mono- to polydisperse system e.g. in charged stabilised colloidal particles interacting through screened Coulomb potential. On the other side, statistical mechanics of polydispersity has been studied using different approaches -. The connection with Tsallis formalism can be hoped to contribute towards these approaches by incorporating the self similar (heirarchical) nature of the colloidal systems.

Finally, we make a remark about alternative approaches for mapping exponential distribution to Tsallis distribution. This has been done using Hilhorst integral transformation . In a recent work , the equivalence of Tsallis distribution with a modification of the exponential distribtion, based on quantum groups was studied. The latter distribution in the present case is given as $`q_g^{\overline{\sigma }\theta /(q_g1)}`$, where $`q_g>1`$ is the deformation or quantum group parameter. (For $`q_g1`$, we recover $`e^{\overline{\sigma }\theta }`$.) This function can be written as $`e^{\sigma \theta }`$, where $`\sigma =\overline{\sigma }\frac{\mathrm{ln}q_g}{q_g1}\overline{\sigma }u`$. Thus fluctuations in parameter $`\sigma `$ as employed above, can effectively be considered as fluctuations in $`u`$. In terms of $`u`$, then one can write Tsallis distribution as

$$\left(1+\frac{\overline{\sigma }\theta }{\alpha }\right)^\alpha =e^{\sigma \theta u}p(u)𝑑u,$$
(10)   
where as before $`\alpha =1/(q1)`$, and

$$p(u)=\frac{\alpha ^\alpha }{\mathrm{\Gamma }(\alpha )}u^{\alpha 1}e^{u\alpha }.$$
(11)   
Also note that $`\overline{u}=up(u)𝑑u=1`$. The above distribution actually defines Mellin’s Transformation, which has been used for a similar purpose in the context of thermal field theory .