Jerome Kenneth Percus (born 21 June 1926 in New York City; died 7 March 2021) [1] was a physicist and mathematician known for important contributions to statistical physics, chemical physics, and applied mathematics.
In 1958, he published with George J. Yevick a groundbreaking study on the statistical mechanics of classical liquids. [2] They formulated an integral equation (Percus–Yevick equation) that is the foundation for several approximation methods for computing the pair correlation function, and thereby allow the derivation of thermodynamic properties from first principles.
Percus published several books:
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The classical-map hypernetted-chain method is a method used in many-body theoretical physics for interacting uniform electron liquids in two and three dimensions, and for non-ideal plasmas. The method extends the famous hypernetted-chain method (HNC) introduced by J. M. J van Leeuwen et al. to quantum fluids as well. The classical HNC, together with the Percus–Yevick approximation, are the two pillars which bear the brunt of most calculations in the theory of interacting classical fluids. Also, HNC and PY have become important in providing basic reference schemes in the theory of fluids, and hence they are of great importance to the physics of many-particle systems.
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