Commonly used abbreviations and parameters
| Abbreviation | Definition |
| Kv | Voltage-dependent K+ channel (for example, Shaker) |
| C, O | Closed and open conducting states of the pore (L) |
| R, A | Resting and activated states of the voltage sensor (J) |
| F, B | Free and bound ligand states of the Ca2+ sensor (K) |
| Φ | System energy—equal to the chemical potential of the channel |
| U, H, G | Other thermodynamic potentials (energy, enthalpy, Gibbs) |
| T, P, V, μ | Intensive variables (temperature, pressure, voltage, chemical potential) |
| S, V, Q, N | Extensive variables (entropy, volume, charge, species number) |
| kT, RT | Boltzmann or gas constant times temperature |
| i, I | Ionic current (single channel, whole patch) |
| ig, Ig | Gating current (single channel, whole patch) |
| g, G | Conductance (single channel, whole patch) |
| G-V, Q-V | Equilibrium curves as a function of V (conductance, charge) |
| 〈g〉, 〈q〉, 〈n〉 | Averaged single-channel quantities (conductance, charge, ligand number) |
| Gmax, gmax | Maximum conductance (single channel, whole patch) |
| Qmax | Total gating charge displacement (whole patch) |
| N | Number of channels in a patch |
| Z | Channel partition function |
| ZK | ∂Z/∂K |
| η | Particle potential—the transition energy of a particle |
| J, K, L, P | Equilibrium constants for particles J, K, L, and P |
| B, C, D, E, F, G | Allosteric (coupling) factors |
| ΔH, ΔG | Particle transition energies (enthalpy, Gibbs energy) |
| Δq, Δn, ΔS | Particle displacements (gating charge, ligand number, entropy) |
| ΔqT, ΔnT | Total displacement per channel (gating charge, ligand number) |
| WA | Work function of the principal component A |
| FB | External force activating a secondary component B |
| WL, Wq | Specific work functions (pore opening, gating charge displacement) |
| WH[g] | Conductance Hill energy (= −WL) |
| WC[q] | Electrical capacitance energy (= −Wq) |
| VM | Mean (also called “median”) voltage of activation (= −WC[q]/ΔqT) |
| V1/2 | Half-activation voltage |
| μm | Mean (or “median”) ligand activity |
| Cq, CP | Capacitance (electrical, heat) |
| fq | Normalized gating charge capacitance (= Cq/N) |
| m | Ramp speed (mV/ms) or slope of linkage plot asymptote (contextual) |
| N, Veq, gleak, Cpatch | Patch parameters (channel number, equilibrium potential, leak conductance, patch capacitance) |
| fs, fc | Sampling frequency, cutoff frequency |
| α, β | Rate constants (forward, backward) |
| PO | Open probability (= G/Gmax) |
| 〈qa〉 | Mean activation charge displacement (= kTdlnPO/dV) |
| B | Boltzmann equation (= J/(1 + J), with J = exp(ΔqB(V − V1/2)/kT)) |
| H | Hill equation (= KnH/(1 + KnH), where nH is the Hill coefficient |
| Abbreviation | Definition |
| Kv | Voltage-dependent K+ channel (for example, Shaker) |
| C, O | Closed and open conducting states of the pore (L) |
| R, A | Resting and activated states of the voltage sensor (J) |
| F, B | Free and bound ligand states of the Ca2+ sensor (K) |
| Φ | System energy—equal to the chemical potential of the channel |
| U, H, G | Other thermodynamic potentials (energy, enthalpy, Gibbs) |
| T, P, V, μ | Intensive variables (temperature, pressure, voltage, chemical potential) |
| S, V, Q, N | Extensive variables (entropy, volume, charge, species number) |
| kT, RT | Boltzmann or gas constant times temperature |
| i, I | Ionic current (single channel, whole patch) |
| ig, Ig | Gating current (single channel, whole patch) |
| g, G | Conductance (single channel, whole patch) |
| G-V, Q-V | Equilibrium curves as a function of V (conductance, charge) |
| 〈g〉, 〈q〉, 〈n〉 | Averaged single-channel quantities (conductance, charge, ligand number) |
| Gmax, gmax | Maximum conductance (single channel, whole patch) |
| Qmax | Total gating charge displacement (whole patch) |
| N | Number of channels in a patch |
| Z | Channel partition function |
| ZK | ∂Z/∂K |
| η | Particle potential—the transition energy of a particle |
| J, K, L, P | Equilibrium constants for particles J, K, L, and P |
| B, C, D, E, F, G | Allosteric (coupling) factors |
| ΔH, ΔG | Particle transition energies (enthalpy, Gibbs energy) |
| Δq, Δn, ΔS | Particle displacements (gating charge, ligand number, entropy) |
| ΔqT, ΔnT | Total displacement per channel (gating charge, ligand number) |
| WA | Work function of the principal component A |
| FB | External force activating a secondary component B |
| WL, Wq | Specific work functions (pore opening, gating charge displacement) |
| WH[g] | Conductance Hill energy (= −WL) |
| WC[q] | Electrical capacitance energy (= −Wq) |
| VM | Mean (also called “median”) voltage of activation (= −WC[q]/ΔqT) |
| V1/2 | Half-activation voltage |
| μm | Mean (or “median”) ligand activity |
| Cq, CP | Capacitance (electrical, heat) |
| fq | Normalized gating charge capacitance (= Cq/N) |
| m | Ramp speed (mV/ms) or slope of linkage plot asymptote (contextual) |
| N, Veq, gleak, Cpatch | Patch parameters (channel number, equilibrium potential, leak conductance, patch capacitance) |
| fs, fc | Sampling frequency, cutoff frequency |
| α, β | Rate constants (forward, backward) |
| PO | Open probability (= G/Gmax) |
| 〈qa〉 | Mean activation charge displacement (= kTdlnPO/dV) |
| B | Boltzmann equation (= J/(1 + J), with J = exp(ΔqB(V − V1/2)/kT)) |
| H | Hill equation (= KnH/(1 + KnH), where nH is the Hill coefficient |