Operators and matrix elements in second-quantization representation

Felix Alexandrovich Berezin

Gintaras Merkelis

The graphical technique of evaluation in the second quantization representation of matrix elements of operators associated with the interactions in atoms is developed. The diagrams corresponding to operators and many-electron states given in terms of irreducible tensorial product of creation and annihilation operators are considered. The general rules for the construction of the diagrams for operators and matrix elements are presented. The procedures of reduction of the diagrams to obtain the algebraic expression are discussed.

Igal Talmi

In Section 14 we considered many nucleon states as the antisymmetrized products of single nucleon wave functions. Due to the antisymmetrization, the wave function is completely determined by the single nucleon states which are occupied. This suggests that a direct way to deal with many nucleon states is by using a representation in which occupied single nucleon states, rather than nucleon coordinates, are specified. To do this we have to define a fixed set of single nucleon states. The results ( 14.6 ), ( 14.7 ) indicate that we should provide matrix elements of relevant single nucleon operators, calculated in the basis of these single nucleon wave functions. The results ( 14.11 ), ( 14.12 ) and ( 14.13 ) show that we should also calculate matrix elements of two-body operators in the basis of single nucleon wave functions. These calculations should be performed in the way shown in preceding sections. They are carried out in configuration space by using wave functions of space coordinates as well as spin (and isospin) variables. Equipped with these matrix elements we can introduce the representation in terms of occupied states by using the formalism of second quantization. This formalism will now be briefly described without entering into serious discussions and rigorous proofs.

J. M. Cook

Stephen Bruce Sontz

W. E. Lawrence

Second-quantized operators are derived algebraically from first-quantized counterparts, thus providing an alternative to all existing methods, most of which rely upon demonstrating the equivalence of matrix elements of the two operators. This derivation establishes an operator identity between a second-quantized operator and a first-quantized operator whose domain of definition is extended explicitly from an N-particle Hilbert space to Fock space. The existence of such an identity eliminates the need to address the issue of the representations used for the two operators, which often obscures the underlying simple relationship between them.