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Physical Review

Many-Body Problem in Quantum Statistical Mechanics. I. General Formulation

T. D. Lee, Chongming Yang

Published Mar 1, 1959• 210 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A formulation is given whereby the grand partition function of a many-body system satisfying Bose-Einstein or Fermi-Dirac statistics is expressed in terms of certain $U$ functions defined for the same system with Boltzmann statistics. It is then shown that these $U$ functions can be evaluated in successive approximations in terms of a binary kernel $B$ which can be computed from a solution of the two-body problem. The approach to the limit of infinite volume is studied. The example of a hard sphere interaction is discussed in some detail.

DOI
10.1103/physrev.113.1165

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A formulation is given whereby the grand partition function of a many-body system satisfying Bose-Einstein or Fermi-Dirac statistics is expressed in terms of certain UUU functions defined for the same system with Boltzmann statistics. It is then shown that these UUU functions can be evaluated in successive approximations in terms of a binary kernel BBB which can be computed from a solution of the two-body problem. The approach to the limit of infinite volume is studied. The example of a hard sphere interaction is discussed in some detail.
Starting from Rules AAA and BBB of a previous paper (I), it is shown that the grand partition function can be evaluated in terms of the statistical averages of the occupation number in momentum space. The final formulation is in terms of a simple variational principle. The procedure represents a concise and complete separation of the effect of the Bose-Einstein or Fermi-Dirac statistical character of the particles from the dynamical problem. In the case of Bose statistics, this formulation makes possible a systematic computation of all thermodynamic functions near the Bose-Einstein transition point in the gaseous phase. Applications to a system of hard spheres are discussed.
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
A statistical-mechanical theory of evaluating the distribution functions of a many-body system is presented. The theory is a natural extension of the quantum statistical theory of Lee and Yang for the grand partition function and gives a new formalism which is different from that developed recently by Fujita, Isihara, and Montroll. The density matrices are first developed in the Uhlenbeck-de Boer UUU functions. A diagrammatical consideration separates out nonconnected products from connected products of the UUU functions, yielding an expansion formula which is simpler than that reported by de Boer some time ago. Application of the resulting expression to free bosons and fermions is made. Then the distribution functions are developed in the binary kernel introduced by Yang and Lee. This expansion is used for the evaluation of the pair distribution function of a hard-sphere Bose gas at the lowest temperature. The results improve upon those reported previously by Lee, Huang, and Yang and others. The normalization and divergence difficulties encountered by Fujita and Hirota are removed. Actually, their interpretation of Lee, Huang, and Yang's results in terms of the chain diagrams is not satisfactory. Instead the chain diagram results may be compared with the more recent results by Wu. Use of the approximate pseudopotential $\ensuremath{\varphi}=8\ensuremath{\pi}a\ensuremath{\delta}({r}_{1}\ensuremath{-}{r}_{2})$ is reflected in insufficiency of the chain diagram approximation. Satisfactory and consistent results are obtained when a new set of diagrams is taken into consideration.
Following the binary collision approach to the many-body problem in Quantum Statistical Mechanics, as developed recently by Lee and Yang, the equation of state, to the order a2/λ2, is derived for a system of particles interacting through a square-well potential and obeying Bose-Einstein or Fermi-Dirac statistics. Here, λ is the mean thermal wavelength of the particles and a represents the range of the two-body interaction. Expressions are obtained for the second and the third virial coefficients of the system and also for its various thermodynamical properties, such as energy, specific heat and entropy, at finite but low temperatures.