An extension of the time-dependent Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov theory (ETDHFB) which includes higher-order effects such as screening of the pairing correlation is proposed. ETDHFB is applied to a pairing model and a fermion system trapped in a harmonic potential to test its feasibility by comparison with exact solutions. With the use of perturbative expressions for the pairing tensor and the two-body density matrix derived from ETDHFB, the screening effect is investigated for atomic fermion systems and isotopes of tin nuclei. It is found that the screening effect on the pairing correlation is not significant.
Background: The variational Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) mean-field theory is the starting point of various (ab initio) many-body methods dedicated to superfluid systems. In this context, pairing correlations may be driven towards zero either on purpose via HFB calculations constrained on, e.g., the particle-number variance or simply because internucleon interactions cannot sustain pairing correlations in the first place in, e.g., closed-shell systems. While taking this limit constitutes a text-book problem when the system is of closed-shell character, it is typically, although wrongly, thought to be ill-defined whenever the naive filling of single-particle levels corresponds to an open-shell system.Purpose: The present work demonstrates that the zero-pairing limit of an HFB state is well-defined independently of the average particle number
A it is constrained to. Still, the nature of the limit state is shown to depend on the regime, i.e., on whether the nucleus characterizes as a closed-shell or an open-shell system when taking the limit. Finally, the consequences of the zero-pairing limit on Bogoliubov many-body perturbation theory (BMBPT) calculations performed on top of the HFB reference state are illustrated.Methods: The zero-pairing limit of a HFB state constrained to carry an arbitrary (integer) number of particles
A on average is worked out analytically and realized numerically using a two-nucleon interaction derived within the frame of chiral effective field theory.Results: The zero-pairing limit of the HFB state is mathematically well-defined, independently of the closed- or open-shell character of the system in the limit. Still, the nature of the limit state strongly depends on the underlying shell structure and on the associated naive filling reached in the zero-pairing limit for the particle number
A of interest. First, the textbook situation is recovered for closed-shell systems, i.e., the limit state is reached for a finite value of the pairing strength (the well-known BardeenCooperSchrieffer (BCS) collapse) and takes the form of a single Slater determinant displaying (i) zero pairing energy, (ii) nondegenerate elementary excitations, and (iii) zero particle-number variance. Contrarily, a nonstandard situation is obtained for open-shell systems, i.e., the limit state is only reached for a zero value of the pairing interaction (no BCS collapse) and takes the form of a specific finite linear combination of Slater determinants displaying (a) a nonzero pairing energy, (b) degenerate elementary excitations, and (c) a nonzero particle-number variance for which an analytical formula is derived. This nonzero particle-number variance acts as a lower bound that depends in a specific way on the number of valence nucleons and on the degeneracy of the valence shell. All these findings are confirmed and illustrated numerically. Last but not least, BMBPT calculations of closed-shell (open-shell) nuclei are shown to be well-defined (ill-defined) in the zero-pairing limit.Conclusions: While HFB theory has been intensively scrutinized formally and numerically over the last decades, it still uncovers unknown and somewhat unexpected features. In the present paper, the zero-pairing limit of a HFB state carrying an arbitrary number of particles has been worked out and shown to lead to drastic differences and consequences depending on the closed-shell or open-shell nature of the system in that limit. From a general perspective, the present analysis demonstrates that HFB theory does not reduce to HF theory when the pairing field is driven to zero in the HFB Hamiltonian matrix.
We describe the computational ingredients for an approach to treat interacting fermion systems with pairing fields, based on path integrals in the space of Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) wave functions. The path integrals can be evaluated by Monte Carlo, via random walks of HFB wave functions whose orbitals evolve stochastically. The approach combines the advantage of HFB theory in paired fermion systems and many-body quantum Monte Carlo techniques. The properties of HFB states, written in the form of either product states or Thouless states, are discussed. The states preserve forms when propagated by generalized one-body operators. They can be stabilized for numerical iteration. Overlaps and one-body Green's functions between two such states can be computed. A constrained-path or phaseless approximation can be applied to the random walks of the HFB states if a sign problem or phase problem is present. The method is illustrated with an exact numerical projection in the Kitaev model, and in the Hubbard model with attractive interaction under an external pairing field.