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The Journal of Chemical Physics

On the Feynman path centroid density for Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac statistics

Pierre–Nicholas Roy, Gregory A. Voth

Published Feb 22, 1999• 52 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Expressions are derived for the Feynman path centroid density of systems of identical particles, namely, Bosons and Fermions. The resulting expressions are applied to a system of two independent particles in a quartic oscillator and the corresponding centroid densities are computed, plotted and compared to the distinguishable particle case. In regions where the particle centroids are close to each other, the Boson centroid density displays an enhanced amplitude in comparison to the distinguishable case. This behavior is attributed to the attractive correlations in Boson systems. The Fermion centroid density, however, can have the peculiar property of being negative in those regions where the particle centroids are in close proximity. This feature is related to the Pauli exclusion principle. This property of the Fermion centroid density rules out its strict interpretation as a probability distribution. Equilibrium properties such as the canonical partition function and the average position were accurately computed using both densities. The Boson density was also used to compute the position autocorrelation function using the Centroid Molecular Dynamics method and the results are in excellent agreement with those of an exact quantum calculation.

DOI
10.1063/1.478254

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Expressions are derived for the Feynman path centroid density of systems of identical particles, namely, Bosons and Fermions. The resulting expressions are applied to a system of two independent particles in a quartic oscillator and the corresponding centroid densities are computed, plotted and compared to the distinguishable particle case. In regions where the particle centroids are close to each other, the Boson centroid density displays an enhanced amplitude in comparison to the distinguishable case. This behavior is attributed to the attractive correlations in Boson systems. The Fermion centroid density, however, can have the peculiar property of being negative in those regions where the particle centroids are in close proximity. This feature is related to the Pauli exclusion principle. This property of the Fermion centroid density rules out its strict interpretation as a probability distribution. Equilibrium properties such as the canonical partition function and the average position were accurately computed using both densities. The Boson density was also used to compute the position autocorrelation function using the Centroid Molecular Dynamics method and the results are in excellent agreement with those of an exact quantum calculation.
This paper is devoted to the development of an operator formulation of the recent extension of the centroid molecular dynamics method [J. Chem. Phys. 110, 3647 (1999); 111, 5303 (1999)] to boson and fermion systems. An operator calculus is used to rederive the basic equations of centroid dynamics. The following generalization to the case of systems of many indistinguishable particles is based on the use of a projection operator. Two different definitions of the quasi-density operator for bosonic and fermionic systems are suggested. The first definition allows an exact evaluation of equilibrium properties for systems with exchange effects using classical-like molecular dynamics calculations. The second one provides a formal justification of Bose–Einstein/Fermi–Dirac centroid dynamics with the same set of approximations as for Boltzmann statistics, and can be used to extract quantum dynamical information. In this case, the corresponding centroid correlation function can be related to a double Kubo transformed quantum mechanical one.
A formulation of quantum statistical mechanics is discussed in which the Feynman path centroid density in Feynman path integration is recast as the central statistical distribution used to average equilibrium and dynamical quantities. In this formulation, the path integral centroid density occupies the same role as the Boltzmann density in classical statistical mechanics. Therefore, the statistical ensemble of imaginary time path centroid configurations provides the distribution which is used to average the appropriately formulated effective operators and imaginary time correlation functions. An accurate renormalized diagrammatic perturbation theory for the centroid density and centroid-constrained imaginary time propagator will also be described with particular emphasis given to the mathematical advantages arising from the centroid-based formulation. The present paper is concerned with the calculation of equilibrium properties from the centroid perspective, while the companion paper describes a centroid-based formalism for calculating dynamical time correlation functions.
We present a formalism of the path integral centroid molecular dynamics (CMD) extended to Bose and Fermi statistics as a semiclassical approach to explore the dynamics of quantum many-body systems. The validity of the method is examined in relation to the time correlation functions. The presently proposed scheme, refined from our previous derivation [Chem. Phys. Lett. 307, 187 (1999)], is aimed at the calculations of not the exact quantum-mechanical dynamics but the semiclassical dynamics under certain approximations. The formalism is based on the projection operator with which the Bose/Fermi system is mapped onto a particular type of pseudo-Boltzmann system. In the pseudo-Boltzmann system the correlation due to the Bose/Fermi statistics is introduced via an extra pseudopotential called the permutation potential and its relevant operator. Using the present semiclassical formalism, the time correlation function of centroid position, which is evaluated from the CMD trajectories in the pseudo-Boltzmann system, is an approximation to the Kubo canonical correlation function of position operator of the exact quantum-statistical system composed of bosons or fermions. There is no such apparent relation between the momentum operator and the corresponding momentum centroid.
Abstract This paper discusses the recent developments of a new molecular dynamics approach for the study of quantum dynamics for systems obeying Bose—Einstein statistics. The formalism is based on the mapping of a quantum mechanical system onto a set of phase space variables. These phase space variables are associated with the centroid (center‐of‐mass) of a Feynman path. We present the essential features of the formalism for the representation of operators and correlation functions and discuss some aspects of its practical implementation. We also present a recently developed simplified model for superfluid environments, based on an effective centroid potential approximation to the partition function. In the context of this model, we introduce a new expression for the calculation of the condensate fraction based on the off‐diagonal one‐particle density matrix. We perform calculations for a many‐particle system where the masses and pair interactions correspond to those of helium. The results show that this simplified model exhibits Bose—Einstein condensation below a certain characteristic temperature.
The calculation of single-particle time correlation functions using the Bose-Einstein centroid dynamics formalism is discussed. A new definition of the quasidensity operator is used to calculate the centroid force on a given particle for an anharmonic system. The force includes correlation effects due to quantum statistics and is used for the calculation of the classical-like dynamics of phase-space centroid variables within the centroid molecular dynamics approximation. Time correlation functions are then obtained for single-particle quantities. These correspond to the double-Kubo transform of exact quantum-mechanical correlation functions. The centroid dynamics results are compared to those of exact basis-set calculations and a good agreement is found. The level of accuracy is in fact the same as what was observed earlier for the calculation of center-of-mass correlation functions for Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein statistics, and for any correlation function for Boltzmann statistics. These results show that it is now possible to use Bose-Einstein centroid molecular dynamics to calculate single-particle correlation functions for systems where quantum exchange effects are present.
Abstract Chapter 11 presents a statistical mechanical treatment of the quantum ideal gases, i.e., the ideal Boltzmann, fermion, and boson gases. The discussion begins with the microscopic description and the solution of the eigenvalue problem for a quantum ideal gas. It is argued that calculating the partition function is most readily accomplished in the grand canonical ensemble using a second-quantized formulation. When the particles are distinguishable, the equation of state is identical to that of a classical ideal gas. For fermions and bosons, however, the problem of computing thermodynamic properties is significantly more complex and can only be solved exactly in certain limits. Away from these limits approximations are needed and are discussed in detail. The relevant distributions - the Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein distributions are derived. The local density approximation of density functional theory is derived for the ideal electron gas. For the ideal boson gas, the phenomenon of Bose-Einstein condensation is discussed