Derivation of the Normal Gaussian distribution from physical principles
Monday, August 25th, 2008In many physical systems the question arises what is the probability distribution that describes a system with a given expected energy E over the interval from -infinity to + infinity? Again you will use the maximum entropy principle to determine this.
The constraints are as follows:
-
…. sum over all probabities must = 1 -
…. given an average value AKA "mean" -
….. given an "energy" or standard deviation AKA "variance"
The langrangian is formed as follows:
….setting equal to zero to find the extrema point
Now the problem is to solve for the lambda coefficients. I use a trick. I assume the curve centered at the Y axis. The curve must have the same amount of entropy on the left side of the Y axis as on the right or entropy will not be maximized. Because the polynomial is even degree the probability curve must be "even"….that is symmetric about the Y axis.

Solve for the coefficients using identity of the integral of normal -infin to + infin
Using the identity and setting it to 1:
yields:
The resultant distribution is:
which is the normal distribution.
Now for the other coefficients the job is made easier by observing the distribution can only retain this even about the mean form if the polynomial is in the form : (x-mu)^2 : this form can propagate along the X axis without distribution shape change.
Observations
- base state of quantum harmonic oscillator is gaussian : It is maximum entropy.
- gaussian wave packet can not mishapen because it is already max entropy. If it changes shape it decreases entropy which requires force.
- gaussian is the base state of the wave packet? Is it possible to have forms of the higher energy states?




































