This is one of the two papers where the optimized perturbation theory was first formulated. The other paper is published in Theor. Math. Phys. 28, 652--660 (1976). The main idea of the theory is to reorganize the perturbative sequence by introducing control functions, defined by optimization conditions, so that the reorganized approximation sequence be convergent. In the present paper, the theory of perturbations is suggested for statistical systems in the absence of small interaction parameters. A new form is advanced for self-consistent conditions defining the optimal parameters for trial Green functions in iterating nonlinear propagator equations. Superharmonic, semiharmonic, and pseudoharmonic approximations for a molecular crystal are considered as examples.
The basic mathematical properties of Green's functions used in statistical mechanics as well as the equations defining these functions and the techniques of solving these equations are reviewed. An approach is presented called the Correlated Iteration Theory, which has been developed by the author. This approach differs from all other known variants of perturbation theory for Green's functions by the combination of two factors: the systematic formulation of an algorithm for obtaining subsequent approximations and the consistent consideration of interparticle correlations at each step of the procedure.
A general system composed of many weakly interacting bosons and/or fermions is considered. The object is to develop a procedure for renormalizing the single-particle creation operators, so as to remove the interactions to successively higher orders of perturbation. The basic idea is that creation operators ${{\ensuremath{\theta}}_{i}}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}$ must satisfy the Hamiltonian commutator equations $[\mathcal{H},{{\ensuremath{\theta}}_{i}}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}]={\ensuremath{\omega}}_{i}{{\ensuremath{\theta}}_{i}}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}$, where
H is the Hamiltonian and ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{i}$ are the particle energies. For the many-weakly-interacting-particle system, the zeroth-order boson and fermion creation operators satisfy these equations to zeroth order. It is shown that if the creation operators are renormalized so as to satisfy the Hamiltonian commutator equations to order
m, and also to satisfy the appropriate boson commutators and fermion anticommutators to order
m, then the problem is solved to order
m. In particular, the vectors formed by operating on the ground state with the renormalized creation operators, according to the usual boson and fermion occupation-number representation, are eigenvectors of
H and are orthonormal, all to order
m. A procedure is otained for finding the (
m+1)-order contributions to the particle creation energies, in terms of the
m-order operators. Explicit first-order calculations of these general results are provided for a system of bosons and a system of fermions, and these first-order results are shown to include similar results of Rayleigh-Schr\"odinger perturbation theory, the random-phase approximation, and the method of thermodynamic Green's functions. The problem of anharmonic lattice dynamics is studied in detail, and a method of undetermined coefficients is used to renormalize the phonon creation operators to first order. The phonon energies are calculated to second order, and this calculation shows that the interactions between renormalized phonons cannot be removed in second order. Statistical averages of the phonon energies give the energy shifts and lifetimes which have been calculated previously by various propagator techniques. In addition, the renormalized energies are used to calculate the temperature-dependent part of the Helmholtz free energy correct to second order. As a final example, electron-phonon interactions in a normal metal are studied. The electron and phonon creation operators are renormalized to first order, the particle energies are calculated to second order, and statistical averages of the particle energies recover the usual thermodynamic Green's-function results for energy shifts and lifetimes. These examples show the simplicity by which the renormalization procedure obtains a great amount of detailed information about the single-particle nature of a many-particle system.
(by translator) A perturbation theory is developed for normal many-particle systems by expanding the inverse of the advanced and retarded Green functions. Both systems with direct interactions and systems with interactions through a quantum field are considered. For the former, the infinite set of coupled equations is written down and the various methods of decoupling discussed. Systems with weak, hard sphere type, or coulomb interactions are considered and the connections with other methods discussed. For systems with quantum field interactions, the chain of equations involves both fermion and boson Green functions and the first approximation can be much better than in earlier cases. This latter approach seems to be more convenient when collective oscillations are important.
A general nonperturbation problem, described by the Hamiltonian
H, is considered. Approximate creation operators ${{\ensuremath{\theta}}_{i}}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}$ are defined as operators which satisfy the Hamiltonian commutator equations $[\mathcal{H},{{\ensuremath{\theta}}_{i}}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}]={\ensuremath{\omega}}_{i}{{\ensuremath{\theta}}_{i}}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}+{{R}_{i}}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}$, where ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{i}$ are the creation energies, and the remainder operators ${{R}_{i}}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}$ are small in the sense that statistical averages involving the ${{R}_{i}}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}$ are small. A zeroth approximation is to neglect the ${{R}_{i}}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}$. In this case, a straight-forward derivation provides general relations between statistical averages such as $〈{{\ensuremath{\theta}}_{i}}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}\ensuremath{\Omega}〉$ and $〈{{\ensuremath{\theta}}_{i}}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}\ensuremath{\Omega}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}\ensuremath{\Omega}{{\ensuremath{\theta}}_{i}}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}〉$, where $\ensuremath{\Omega}$ is any operator. The usual boson and fermion occupation numbers are a trivial result of these zeroth-order relations. Corrections to the general zeroth-order relations arise from the ${{R}_{i}}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}$; such corrections are considered in the spirit of perturbation theory. An explicit first-order correction is obtained for the averages $〈{{\ensuremath{\theta}}_{i}}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}{\ensuremath{\theta}}_{i}〉$, and this correction is related to a self-consistent energy-renormalization procedure. The present method is similar to the method of thermodynamic Green's functions in that the derivations given here do not require evaluation of any state vectors or of the partition function. The general results are applied to the Heisenberg ferromagnet problem. At low temperatures, the zeroth-order relations give the Bloch spin-wave results, and an approximate evaluation of the first-order contribution gives the leading term in Dyson's
T4 correction to the spontaneous magnetization. For arbitrary temperatures, the zeroth-order relations give the Tyablikov equations for
〈Sz〉, and Callen's results are obtained from the first-order corrections. These examples illustrate the simplicity of calculating statistical averages of functions of the ${{\ensuremath{\theta}}_{i}}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}$, ${\ensuremath{\theta}}_{i}$ operators by the present method.
The physical system modelled is a periodic lattice that provides a background for interacting fermions. An effective model of the interacting fermions at zero temperature may be studied using standard techniques of many-body quantum mechanics. All the physical information of such a system is encoded in its Schwinger's functions that tell us how states evolve in time and what the matrix elements of all operators are. It is natural to do calculations on the interacting system by treating it as a perturbation of the corresponding noninteracting system, as the eigenstates and energy levels of the latter are known. All Schwinger functions may be conveniently cast in the path integral formalism, and combined into a generating functional. The Schwinger functions are shown to be sums of Feynman diagrams, where the electron propagators blow-up at the Fermi surface. Power counting is described and used to reveal subdiagram divergences. Renormalization via the renormalized Gallavotti-Nicolo Tree Expansion is implemented in an attempt to circumvent these subdiagram divergences and obtain finite values for the Schwinger functions. It is shown that if the Fermi surface has at worst quadratic singularities, the perturbation coefficients of the renormalizing counterterms are finite and remain so as the infrared cutoff is removed.