ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the thermodynamic functions for the classical one-component plasma (OCP) as well as for the quantum liquids of electrons. The microscopic descriptions of the plasma in terms of the correlation functions and the structure factors are connected directly to the thermodynamics that specifies the macroscopic states and/or the phases of the system. Thermodynamics of the plasma may be approached through evaluation of quantities. The chapter introduces thermodynamic functions for the study of phase transitions and related phenomena in plasmas. The thermodynamic functions for classical OCP solids have been investigated through the Monte Carlo simulations coupled with analytic study of the anharmonic effects in the lattice vibrations. The electron liquid is a quantum OCP of electrons immersed in a uniform compensating background of positive charges. Electrons are fermions, with spin 1/2, obeying the Fermi statistics. Wave functions of two identical fermions with parallel spins are antisymmetric, they change their signs when the positions of the two fermions are interchanged.
