By means of a quantum mechanical phase space distribution function
introduced by von Roos, the Schroedinger equation for a non-relativistic
system of N identical particles with scalar interactions is transformed
into a quantum mechanical generalization of the Liouville equation,
thereby formulating the problem in terms of a generalized density in
phase space, a quantity of primary interest in most treatments of the
corresponding classical system (or plasma). This transformation permits
a parallel development of the theories of classical and quantum plasmas
and thus allows the quantum many-body problem to be discussed virtually
completely in classical terms. In particular, a kinetic theory of
quantum plasmas is obtained by deriving the quantum analogue of the BBGKY
hierarchy, and applying thereto approximation techniques similar to those
of Rostocker and Rosenbluth, and Bogoliubov. The point of departure from
similar previous studies based on the Wigner distribution function is that
the proper exchange symmetry can be tractably introduced into the formalism. Attention is first focused on the Hartree and Hartree-Fock approximations,
in which case the quantum BBGKY system reduces to a simple quantum
generalization of the Vlasov equation. This equation is used to study
the response of spatially homogeneous systems to weak external forces,
and the associated problems of plasmon and spin-wave excitations. It is
also used to derive the quantum and exchange corrected equations of
inviscid hydrodynamical transport which are then applied to the problem
of sound propagation in the degenerate electron gas. The second part of the study is concerned with the theory of the
many-electron atom in the Hartree and Hartree-Fock approximations.
The relevant quantum Vlasov equations lead naturally to a statistical
theory of the atom which reduces to the Thomas-Fermi-Amaldi and Thomas Fermi
models (respectively) as ħ → 0. For ħ ≠ 0, the quantum and
exchange corrections to these models are simultaneously generated. The
quantum hydrodynamical theory developed earlier is used to determine
the influence of these corrections on the boundary conditions of the
model, and a theory of the compressed atom is consequently obtained.
Considered in somewhat less detail are the effects of non-zero temperature,
net orbital angular momentum, relativity and correlations, as well as
time dependent processes. The final part deals with the problem of the degenerate electron
gas with a uniform neutralizing background. Going beyond the Hartree-Fock approximation, the pair functions for particles with
parallel and anti-parallel spin are obtained by neglecting three particle
correlations. From these functions, a quantum-mechanical collision
integral is derived which differs from that obtained by Silin
and Guernsey and conjectured by Wyld and Pines in that dynamical exchange
effects are included. Also obtained from the pair function
is an expression for the correlation which reduces in the high
density limit to the result of Gell-Mann and Brueckner. At intermediate
densities an additional term appears in the energy due to the screening
of the exchange interaction by the dielectric properties of the medium.
It is evaluated in the high density limit and found to be -0.151 r_s ln r_s
Ryd/electron in marked disagreement with the corresponding value obtained
by DuBois.
By means of a quantum mechanical phase space distribution function
introduced by von Roos, the Schroedinger equation for a non-relativistic
system of N identical particles with scalar interactions is transformed
into a quantum mechanical generalization of the Liouville equation,
thereby formulating the problem in terms of a generalized density in
phase space, a quantity of primary interest in most treatments of the
corresponding classical system (or plasma). This transformation permits
a parallel development of the theories of classical and quantum plasmas
and thus allows the quantum many-body problem to be discussed virtually
completely in classical terms. In particular, a kinetic theory of
quantum plasmas is obtained by deriving the quantum analogue of the BBGKY
hierarchy, and applying thereto approximation techniques similar to those
of Rostocker and Rosenbluth, and Bogoliubov. The point of departure from
similar previous studies based on the Wigner distribution function is that
the proper exchange symmetry can be tractably introduced into the formalism. Attention is first focused on the Hartree and Hartree-Fock approximations,
in which case the quantum BBGKY system reduces to a simple quantum
generalization of the Vlasov equation. This equation is used to study
the response of spatially homogeneous systems to weak external forces,
and the associated problems of plasmon and spin-wave excitations. It is
also used to derive the quantum and exchange corrected equations of
inviscid hydrodynamical transport which are then applied to the problem
of sound propagation in the degenerate electron gas. The second part of the study is concerned with the theory of the
many-electron atom in the Hartree and Hartree-Fock approximations.
The relevant quantum Vlasov equations lead naturally to a statistical
theory of the atom which reduces to the Thomas-Fermi-Amaldi and Thomas Fermi
models (respectively) as ħ → 0. For ħ ≠ 0, the quantum and
exchange corrections to these models are simultaneously generated. The
quantum hydrodynamical theory developed earlier is used to determine
the influence of these corrections on the boundary conditions of the
model, and a theory of the compressed atom is consequently obtained.
Considered in somewhat less detail are the effects of non-zero temperature,
net orbital angular momentum, relativity and correlations, as well as
time dependent processes. The final part deals with the problem of the degenerate electron
gas with a uniform neutralizing background. Going beyond the Hartree-Fock approximation, the pair functions for particles with
parallel and anti-parallel spin are obtained by neglecting three particle
correlations. From these functions, a quantum-mechanical collision
integral is derived which differs from that obtained by Silin
and Guernsey and conjectured by Wyld and Pines in that dynamical exchange
effects are included. Also obtained from the pair function
is an expression for the correlation which reduces in the high
density limit to the result of Gell-Mann and Brueckner. At intermediate
densities an additional term appears in the energy due to the screening
of the exchange interaction by the dielectric properties of the medium.
It is evaluated in the high density limit and found to be -0.151 r_s ln r_s
Ryd/electron in marked disagreement with the corresponding value obtained
by DuBois.
This thesis is about the derivation of effective mean field equations and their next-order corrections starting from nonrelativistic many-body quantum theory. Mean field equations provide an approximate ansatz for the description of interacting many-particle systems. In this ansatz the interaction between the particles is replaced by a self-consistent external potential leading to an effective one-body description of the many-particle system. Next-order corrections provide an approximation which goes one step further and tries to capture also subleading effects that are not resolved by the mean field ansatz. We present mathematical proofs for the validity of such effective theories for different models that are motivated, e.g., from the theory of ultracold atoms (the bosonic Hartree equation and the corresponding Bogoliubov theory) and from plasma physics (the motion of a tracer particle through a degenerate and dense electron gas). Starting from a many-body Schrödinger equation, our goal is to show that the solutions converge in a particular limit to the solutions to an effective mean field equation and its next-order corrections. After a short introduction and a summary in Chapter one, we present the main part of this work in three self-contained chapters. In Chapter two we analyze the dynamics of a large number N of nonrelativistic bosons in the weak coupling limit, i.e., for a coupling constant g_N=1/N. It is well known that in the limit of infinite particle number, the Hartree equation emerges as an effective one-particle theory of the Bose gas. This is closely related to the remarkable physical phenomenon of Bose-Einstein condensation at low temperature, namely that the majority of particles in a Bose gas occupies the same copy of a single one-particle quantum state. Our emphasis lies in the description of the few particles that fluctuate around the Bose-Einstein condensate. We show convergence of the fully interacting dynamics to an auxiliary time evolution in the norm of the N-particle space. This result allows us to prove several other assertions. Among other things, it is used to derive the Hartree equation with optimal speed of convergence 1/N for initial states that are close to ground states of interacting systems and also to prove convergence of the N-particle solution towards a time evolution obtained from the Bogoliubov Hamiltonian on Fock space. Chapter three is about the low energy properties of the weakly interacting homogeneous Bose gas. Here, we derive a novel estimate for low energy eigenfunctions stating that the probability for finding l particles out of their total number N not in the condensate is exponentially small in the number l. Using this bound, we then prove that the ground state wave function of the microscopic model satisfies certain quasifree type properties. The exponential decay is moreover used to provide an alternative proof for the validity of Bogoliubov's approximation for the low-lying energy eigenvalues. Bogoliubov theory states that the excitation energies of the Bose gas are given by excitations of free quasiparticles obeying an effective energy-momentum dispersion relation which is linear for small momentum. The linearity of the effective dispersion relation is an essential ingredient for the explanation of the superfluid character of the Bose gas. In Chapter four we study the time evolution of a single particle coupled through a pair potential to a dense and homogeneous ideal Fermi gas in two spatial dimensions. This type of model is well known in plasma physics where it is used to describe the energy loss of ions moving through a dense and degenerate electron gas. We analyze the model for a coupling parameter g=1 and prove closeness of the time evolution to an effective dynamics for large densities of the gas and for long time scales of the order of some power of the density. The effective dynamics is generated by the free Hamiltonian with a large but constant energy shift. To leading order, this energy shift is given by the spatially homogeneous mean field potential produced by the gas particles, whereas at next-to-leading order, one has to consider an additional correction to the mean field energy which is due to so-called recollision processes.
From the quantum kinetic equation of Bogoliubov, Gurov, Born, and Green, the equations of motion for macroscopic variables are examined in many different ways. First, in the configuration space a hierarchy of generalized fluid-dynamical equations can be obtained by taking the appropriate limits of the quantum kinetic equation. The resultant equations of continuity, of momentum, and of energy are similar in form to those one encounters in classical fluid dynamics with the exception of additional terms proportional to ${\ensuremath{\hbar}}^{2}$ Secondly, the quantum kinetic equation is examined in phase space. The same set of equations of continuity, of momentum, and of energy can be derived by taking the first three moments of the quantum kinetic equation. The exact results we obtained are utilized to form the starting point for many simplifying approximations for the investigation of the dynamics of quantum many-body systems such as the elastic response limit, the hydrodynamical limit, Landau's Fermi-liquid theory, and finally the time-dependent Hartree-Fock and the multideterminant time-dependent Hartree-Fock approximations. The fact that all these different dynamical descriptions can be traced to a common origin provides a unifying viewpoint to the present approach with the quantum kinetic equation.NUCLEAR STRUCTURE Dynamics of nuclear fluid, quantum kinetic equation, and generalized fluid-dynamical equation. Elastic response, hydrodynamical limit, Landau's Fermi-liquid theory, time-dependent Hartree-Fock approximation, and multideterminant time-dependent Hartree-Fock approximation.
A comprehensive account of the quantum theory of many particle systems is reported in this chapter. Essential features of a system of N-indistinguishable Bosonic and Fermionic particles, the exchange operator, space and spin dependent parts of wave function, properties of ground and excited states of the helium atom with detailed derivations for direct and exchange integrals, Hartree and Hartree-Fock approximations, and Thomas-Fermi and density functional theories for systems of N-particles are the contents of the chapter. Carefully chosen solved examples and unsolved exercises, which demonstrate how to deal with a system of more than a particle are included towards the end of chapter. The elaborated discussions on Hartree and Hartree-Fock approximations and Thomas-Fermi and density functional theories for systems of N-particles are special feature of this chapter.
Close to equilibrium, a normal Bose or Fermi fluid can be
described by an exact kinetic equation whose kernel is nonlocal in space and time. The general expression derived for the kernel is evaluated to second order in the interparticle potential. The result is a wavevector- and frequency-dependent generalization of the linear
Uehling-Uhlenbeck kernel with the Born approximation cross section. The theory is formulated in terms of second-quantized phase space operators whose equilibrium averages are the n-particle Wigner distribution functions. Convenient expressions for the commutators and anticommutators of the phase space operators are obtained. The two-particle equilibrium distribution function is analyzed in terms of momentum-dependent quantum generalizations of the
classical pair distribution function h(k) and direct correlation function c(k). The kinetic equation is presented as the equation of motion of a two -particle correlation function, the phase space density-density anticommutator, and is derived by a formal closure of the quantum BBGKY hierarchy. An alternative derivation using a projection operator is also given. It is shown that the method used for approximating the kernel by a second order expansion preserves all the sum rules to the same order, and that the second-order kernel satisfies the appropriate positivity and symmetry conditions.
Quantum mechanics describes multi-electronic systems by using probabilistic theories (non-relativistic many-body Hamiltonian, Bethe-Salpeter equation, Breit equation, density functional theory and so on).All of these theories are approximations and provide a probabilistic conception of quantum mechanics, which prevents it to be compatible with general relativity (or "macro scale" physics).Indeed, the real observable world (or Minkowski space) is for us a 3D+time space but quantum mechanics is expressed in multi-dimensional Hilbert space, which is not physical but purely mathematical.In this article we try to make a relativistic equation that gives a correct description of atomic physics in the real space for N ≥ 2 electrons systems: i.e a N-electrons Dirac equation.The starting point is to use the wave mechanics concept of De Broglie and Schrödinger: considering the electron as a matter-wave.For this we start from the Hartree equation, which gives already a 3D space description of each electron wave function.Then we jump into Hartree-Fock theory, that takes into account the electron exchange and can be also expressed in 3D, thanks to Slater-Condon rules.By extending the concept of exchange potential to a relativistic 4-exchange potential, and doing the same for the electron-electron repulsion, kinetic and rest mass energy: we obtain a relativistic N electrons Dirac equation, in 3D+time space that takes into account relativistic and correlation effects.The non-relativistic, stationary, uncorrelated and scalar approximation will show the reduction of the N-electrons Dirac equation into Hartree-Fock equation.
A system of N antisymmetric particles, moving under the influence of a fixed potential and their mutual many-particle interactions, is investigated in the ordinary Hartree-Fock scheme, having the total wave function approximated by a single Slater determinant. It is shown that all the density matrices of various orders, the wave function, and the entire physical situation depends only on a fundamental invariant $\ensuremath{\rho}({x}_{1}, {x}_{2})$, which is identical with the first-order density matrix. The Hartree-Fock equations are expressed in terms of this quantity.The Hartree-Fock equations are also solved by expanding the eigenfunctions in a given complete set, and applications to the MO-LCAO theory of the electronic structure of molecules, and crystals are given. It is shown that, in this scheme, the entire physical situation depends on a charge- and bond-order matrix $R(\ensuremath{\nu}\ensuremath{\mu})$ with respect to the ordinary atomic spin-orbitals involved. The Hartree-Fock equations for this matrix are investigated.Finally, the ionized and excited states are investigated, and it is shown that the Hartree-Fock scheme has a high degree of physical visuality also in case of many-particle interactions. The excitation energy of the system is the difference (${{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{j}}^{\ensuremath{'}}\ensuremath{-}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{i}$) between two "spin-orbital energies," being eigenvalues to the effective Hamiltonians associated with the two states under consideration.