A general expression for the distribution of the fluctuating 2~l-pole momentMeof a spherical sampleof dielectric material is derived on the basis of dielectric theory combined with statistical mechanics.The formulas are compared with results from computer simulations of a weakly coupled Stockmayer fluid and the agreement is shown to be excellent. Furthermore, we calculate the size ofthe coupling, quantified through the free energy of solvation A_(solv),of the fluctuating electric moments to a surrounding dielectric medium. It turns out that the contribution to A~(solv)from eachfluctuating electric moment actually increases with increasing order e of the moment, resulting ina formally infinite free energy of solvation. We also present a correction to A_(solv)for molecularmedia, which shows that the molecular nature of the surrounding medium effectively suppresses the divergence in the solvation free energy.
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