Abstract The main task of microscopic many-body theory is to provide an understanding and an explanation of properties of macroscopic systems from no other information than the properties of the underlying Hamiltonian, the particle statistics, and the macroscopic geometry of the system. Variational wave functions have been a very successful technique for examining the ground state and dynamic properties of dense quantum fluids. Specifically the “optimized (Fermi)-hypernetted chain” ((F)HNC-EL) hierarchy of approximations reproduces, for simple interactions like electrons and quantum fluids, the most basic features of a self-bound many-body system, namely binding, saturation, and spinodal decomposition. The relationships between Green’s functions based perturbation theory and variational wave functions have been clarified in much detail in the past. In the language of Feynman diagrams, a self-consistent summation of ring- and ladder-diagrams is the minimum requirement for a satisfactory microscopic description of these basic features. Realistic nucleon–nucleon interactions pose further problems: The most difficult aspect of the nuclear many-body problem is caused by the form of the microscopic nucleon–nucleon interaction which depends at least on the spin, isospin, the relative orientation and angular momentum of the interacting particles. Simple variational methods as used for electrons and quantum fluids are inadequate. Correlation functions that have the same structure as the interactions lead to so-called “commutator diagrams” that have, so far, been mostly neglected. We have shown in the past that these corrections can be very important if the two-body interactions are very different in different spin- or isospin channels. To deal with the problem of realistic nuclear interactions we have combined techniques of the Jastrow–Feenberg variational method and the local parquet-diagram theory. In the language of diagrammatic perturbation theory, “commutator diagrams” can be identified with non-parquet diagrams. We examine the physical processes described by these terms and include the relevant diagrams in a way that is suggested by the Jastrow–Feenberg approach. We show that the corrections from non-parquet contributions are, at short distances, larger than all other many-body effects. We examine here neutron matter as a prototype of systems with state-dependent interactions. Calculations are carried out for neutrons interacting via the so-called
v8 v 8 version of four popular interactions. We determine the structure and effective interactions and apply the method to the calculation of the energetics, structure and dynamic properties such as the single-particle self-energy and the dynamic response functions as well as BCS pairing in both singlet and triplet states. We find that many-body correlations lead to a strong reduction of the spin-orbit interaction, and, therefore, to a suppression of the
3P2 3 P 2 and
3P2 3 P 2 -
3F2 3 F 2 gaps. We also find pairing in
3P0 3 P 0 states; the strength of the pairing gap depends sensitively on the potential model employed.
We develop the variational/parquet diagram approach to the structure of nuclear systems with strongly state-dependent interactions. For that purpose, we combine ideas of the general Jastrow-Feenberg variational method and the local parquet-diagram theory for bosons with state-dependent interactions [R. A. Smith and A. D. Jackson, Nucl. Phys. A 476, 448 (1988)]. The most tedious aspect of variational approaches, namely the symmetrization of an operator dependent variational wave function, is thereby avoided. We carry out calculations for neutron matter interacting via the Reid and Argonne
v6 models of the nucleon-nucleon interaction. While the equation of state is a rather robust quantity that comes out reasonably well even in very simplistic approaches, we show that effective interactions, which are the essential input for calculating dynamic properties, depend sensitively on the quality of the treatment of the many-body problem.
We develop a manifestly microscopic method to deal with strongly interacting nuclear systems that have different interactions in spin-singlet and spin-triplet states. In a first step we analyze variational wave functions that have been suggested to describe such systems and demonstrate that the so-called commutator contributions can have important effects whenever the interactions in the spin-singlet and the spin-triplet states are very different. We then identify these contributions as terms that correspond, in the language of perturbation theory, to non-parquet diagrams. We include these diagrams in a way that is suggested by the Jastrow-Feenberg approach and show that the corrections from non-parquet contributions are, at short distances, larger than all other many-body effects.
The hypotheticai system of nucleons known as nuclear matter provides a very interesting field of study with relevance to both nuclear physics and astrophysics. The task of finding nucleon-nucleon potentials that explain the empirical properties of nuclear matter, as well as the two-body data, has been hampered by the lack of an adequate many-body theory for treating the complicated forces involved. Realistic nucleon-nucleon potentials have strong spin, isospin, tensor and spin-orbit components which induce correspondingly strong correlations in nuclear matter. In this thesis we present a variational theory designed to cope with these complicated correlations. To place the theory in perspective we give an overview of several different many-body theories and compare their predictions in the somewhat simpler systems of the 4He and 3He liquids, and for a simple central potential model of nuclear matter. The variational theory is then developed, starting with the choice of wave function. A generalized Jastrow product of two-body correlation functions containing central, spin, isospin, tensor, and spin-orbit operators is used. The correlation function is generated by a series of two-body Schrodinger equations with boundary conditions which require the wave function to heal at a distance d. The wave function is parameterized by d and by the magnitudes of the non-central correlations. Expectation values with variational wave functions of the Jastrow type may be studied conveniently with generalized Mayer diagrams. Diagram rules are given and a general diagrammatic cluster expansion is derived. It is an expansion in powers of commutators of the non-central operators, and in their absence reduces to the usual Mayer cluster expansion. Evaluation of diagrams in the cluster expansion is complicated by the presence of the non-commuting operators. Some simple rules and useful methods for calculating the contribution due to the central, spin, isospin, and tensor operators are given. Spin-orbit operators are neglected beyond this point, but the approach used is extendible to them. Large classes of diagrams contributing to an expectation value can be summed by means of integral equations. The development of single chain, hypernetted chain, and Fermi hypernetted chain (FHNC) equations for central correlations is reviewed. The chain summation methods are extended to sum single operator chains (SOC) for the non-central operators. Methods are also given for treating the leading commutator corrections in the expansi0n by simple vertex factors. The energy expectation value for potentials with six operators are evaluated using the FHNC/SOC functions, with an exact treatment of the commutators involved. The energy is found to have a minimum with respect to variations in all parameters. Results of calculations with model potentials based on the Reid, Bethe-Johnson, Hamada-Johnston, and Gammel-Thaler potentials are reported. A crude estimate of the effect of the neglected spin-orbit potentials on the nuclear matter binding energy and saturation density indicates that it could be significant. A correct treatment of the spin-orbit potentials is the next major step that should be taken.
We apply ideas of the parquet-diagram and optimized Fermi-hypernetted chain methods to determine the short-range structure of the pair wave function in neutron matter and compare these with Bethe-Goldstone results and those of low-order variational calculations. It is shown that the induced interaction, describing the exchange of density, spin, and tensor fluctuations, has a profound influence on the short-ranged structure of the pair wave function and, hence, on effective interactions in neutron matter.