Non-equilibrium statistical field theory for classical particles: Impact of correlated initial conditions on non-ideal gases

We use the non-equilibrium statistical field theory for classical particles recently developed by Mazenko and Das and Mazenko, together with the free generating functional for particles initially correlated in phase space derived in Bartelmann et al. to study the impact of initial correlations on the equation of state of real gases. We first show that we can reproduce the well known van der Waals equation of state for uncorrelated initial conditions using this approach. We then impose correlated initial conditions and study their qualitative and quantitative effect on the equation of state of a van der Waals gas. The correlations impose a significant correction to the pressure of an ideal gas which is an order of magnitude larger than the correction due to particle interactions.