Journal of Statistical Physics, Vol. 80, Nos. 5/6, 1995, p. 1341-1378.
For systems of particles in classical phase space with standard Hamiltonian, we consider (spatially averaged) microcanonical Gibbs distributions in finite boxes. We show that infinite-volume limits along suitable subsequences exist and are grand canonical Gibbs measures. On the way, we establish a variational formula for the thermodynamic entropy density, as well as a variational characterization of grand canonical Gibbs measures.