The reduction of density matrices defined with respect to a finite basis set is considered. A basis set can be introduced into the vector space of Hermitian matrices acting on functions of the coordinates of
p particles for each value of
p. An analogy with the construction of spin eigenfunctions is used to obtain a particular basis set called the reducing basis. Reduction of one of these basis elements is either one to one or maps into the origin. Any element in the preimage of a density matrix can thus be resolved into two components, one uniquely determined by the density matrix and the other arbitrary within a certin subset. A restatement of the
N-representability problem is given, and two sufficient conditions and one necessary condition for
N representability are given in terms of distances and norms.
In the spirit of the generalized one-particle density matrix for fermions, we introduce generalized one- and two-particle density matrices to state representability conditions up to second order for boson systems without assuming particle number-conservation. Furthermore, we show for both particle species that, for a semibounded Hamiltonian, the in?mum of the variation of the energy functional w.r.t quasifree states coincides with the one of a variation over pure quasifree states. Moreover, it is proven for fermions that only pure quasifree states have a generalized 1-pdm that is a projection, and a similar statement for bosons.