In phenomenological descriptions of nuclear vibrations a close connection is implied or expressed between the most-collective transition operator and the harmonic-oscillator (boson) variables which are introduced to describe the collective motion. With the help of a widely used example - the monopole vibration model of Meshkov, Lipkin, and Glick - it is shown how this relationship suggests, for the microscopic case, a new and flexible class of boson representations. As shown, these are capable of yielding accurate descriptions of the system not only in the extremes of weak and strong coupling, but in the usually more inaccessible intermediate regions as well.
An exactly soluble three-level model for a system of fermions with Hamiltonian formed from generators of the group SU(3) is studied. A basis for the representation of which the ground state is a member is constructed. It is demonstrated that in this representation, the generators can each be expanded in a series as functions of a pair of ``kinematical'' boson operators; the series are uniquely determined to satisfy the operator algebra and the invariants of the representation by a method of Marumori. It is seen that the lowest anharmonic approximation to the Hamiltonian and other operators yields excellent numerical agreement with exact results for all regimes of interaction strength considered. An alternative description of the system in terms of a dynamically more meaningful boson, called the ``physical'' boson, is shown to be appropriate for relatively weak coupling where one has a near harmonic spectrum.
It is well known that the second-order ground-state correlation energy calculated in the usual random-phase approximation (RPA) is off by a factor of 2. It has also been noted that there is a factor-of-2 discrepancy in the correlation corrections to the Hartree-Fock occupation probabilities. The reason for these phenomena is traced to the treatment of the exchange terms in the interaction matrix element. An illustration based on a simple single multipole interaction shows that the factor of 2 arises from a coherent sum of small higher-order terms. Results based on the consideration of one or a few eigenmodes at a time are seen to be free of this difficulty. The correlation energy, occupation-probability corrections, and equations of motion are reexamined in the Beliaev-Zelevinsky boson expansion, as an illustration of clearly defined higher-order treatments.
A simple model of a boson system is considered for which the exact Schr\"odinger equation reduces to a difference equation which can be solved numerically. Application of the Bogoliubov method and comparison of its results with the numerical results then yield some insight into the validity of the Bogoliubov approximations. The simple model considered has, in the absence of interactions, only a zero energy state and two states of unit energy available to each boson. Initially there is assumed to be no interaction between bosons in the degenerate excited states and all existing interactions are assumed to be repulsive. The ground-state energy is calculated in the Bogoliubov approximation, with and without the depletion effect considered, and in another numerical approximation. These results and the results of the numerical solution of the exact Schr\"odinger equation converge to the Bogoliubov result with depletion ignored when the number of particles in the system approaches infinity. It is surprising to note that, for the interaction strengths considered, the Bogoliubov result is within 3% of the numerical result for as few as 32 particles in the system, and within 10% for only 4 particles. A modification of the above system is considered in which there exists an additional two-body interaction between particles in the degenerate excited states which may be attractive or repulsive. It is shown that the ground-state energy, with this additional interaction present, deviates from the Bogoliubov value linearly with the strength of the added interaction, i.e., $W={W}_{\mathrm{Bog}}+\ensuremath{\alpha}F$ (with
F the strength parameter of the interaction). The factor $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ is found to be small and constant over a wide range of
F and in this range the deviation of
W from the Bogoliubov value is small. There is, however, a transition point
FT, beyond which $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ is constant and large and the usual Bogoliubov approximation is invalid for interactions more attractive than that characterized by
FT. A Bogoliubov-like approximation is shown to be quite accurate in this region. It is then shown that $F_{T}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ is a linear function of the number of particles in the system.
In a previous paper the concept of an ideal collective coordinate was introduced as the basis for a phenomenological theory of nuclear collective motion. The application of this idea to the microscopic domain is illustrated by the study of a simple two-level model with monopole-monopole interactions, previously considered by Lipkin and collaborators. The complete scheme of calculation which is presented is seen as an alternative to the boson expansion methods currently in fashion for the study of anharmonic vibrations. The new scheme should, however, be applicable to a more extended range of problems such as the adiabatic limit for vibrations and the general problem of rotation-vibration interactions.
A comparison between the finite Dyson-type and the infinite Holstein-Primakoff-type boson expansion is presented, considering both particle-hole and pairing type excitations. The significance of truncating to the truly collective branches is emphasized, and the convergence of the Holstein-Primakoff expansion is discussed. It is shown that in both expansions there is no need to construct physical basis states. Complete equivalence between the two types of expansion is exhibited by treating these excitations within models which are schematic but not totally unrealistic.NUCLEAR STRUCTURE Boson expansion theory, convergence, comparison of different methods, finite Dyson expansion, infinite Holstein-Primakoff expansion, pairing and particle-hole collective motions.