Distribution functions in physics: Fundamentals Academic Article

abstract

• This is the first part of what will be a two-part review of distribution functions in physics. Here we deal with fundamentals and the second part will deal with applications. We discuss in detail the properties of the distribution function defined earlier by one of us (EPW) and we derive some new results. Next, we treat various other distribution functions. Among the latter we emphasize the so-called P distribution, as well as the generalized P distribution, because of their importance in quantum optics. 1984.

authors

• Scully, Marlan

published proceedings

• Physics Reports

altmetric score

• 1.5

author list (cited authors)

• Hillery, M., O'Connell, R. F., Scully, M. O., & Wigner, E. P.

citation count

• 2425

complete list of authors

• Hillery, M||O'Connell, RF||Scully, MO||Wigner, EP

publication date

• April 1984

publisher

• Elsevier  Publisher

published in

• Physics Reports  Journal

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1016/0370-1573(84)90160-1

start page

• 121

end page

• 167

volume

• 106

issue

• 3

URL

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0370-1573(84)90160-1