A nonvariational equation, called the density equation, is proposed for the direct determination of the density matrix without using a wave function. It is connected with the Schr\"odinger equation by a necessary and sufficient theorem. The equation for the lowest order depends explicitly only on the fourth-order density matrix ${\ensuremath{\Gamma}}^{(4)}$ (or ${\ensuremath{\Gamma}}^{(3)}$ in a special case) and not on the higher-order density matrices. The equation always gives the density matrix and the associated energy which coincide with those obtained indirectly from the Schr\"odinger equation. This is true even if we solve the equation only with the known and tractable
N-representability conditions, although in such a case some unphysical solution may also occur in the non-
N-representable space. The equation is applicable to both fermion and boson systems, and to both ground and excited states. In contrast to the Schr\"odinger equation, the labor of solving the equation does not increase when the number of particles of the system is increased. When we have the Hartree-Fock solution, the equation is transformed such that the correlated density matrix and the correlation energy are the direct solution. The correlated density equation thus obtained is suitable for the study of electron correlations.
The ground-state wave function and energy of a finite system of interacting fermions are expanded in terms of multiple-particle excitations on an uncorrelated zero-order state. The resulting set of coupled equations constitutes a systematic variational generalization of Hartree-Fock theory. Comparison is made with many-body perturbation theory and it is shown that to any order the theory incorporates an infinite number of perturbation theory terms. Solutions of the equations for ground-state atomic systems are discussed and related to previous work using many-body perturbation theory. It is shown that the sums of perturbation terms necessary for convergence are automatically included in the equations for two-particle excitations. Application of the equations to open-shell atoms is described.