A system of bosons interacting by 2-body forces is treated in momentum space in the Heisenberg representation, assuming a statistically homogeneous and stationary state. The principle of weak statistical dependence of different momentum modes, previously applied to turbulence dynamics, is used to obtain an exact expansion expressing quadrilinear (2-body) time-displaced correlation functions of the second-quantized field variables in terms of bilinear time-displaced correlation functions and average impulse-response functions. The last-named functions are defined in terms of the exact Green's operator, for infinitesimal sources, of the nonlinear Heisenberg equations of motion. A set of coupled integral equations are then obtained which determine both the bilinear correlation functions and the response functions. By retaining in these equations only the lowest terms in the cited expansion, a theory is obtained which includes particle "self-energy" interactions with the medium of all orders. A modification of the theory is briefly outlined which includes, at finite temperatures, all the processes described at absolute zero by the Brueckner approximation and, in addition, 3-body effects, iterated to all orders, which are omitted in that approximation.
In a preceding paper [J. Math. Phys. 3, 475 (1962)], some model Hamiltonians were proposed for quantum-mechanical many-body systems with pair forces. For infinite systems in thermal equilibrium, they led to temperature-domain propagator expansions which were formally summable and expressible by closed equations. These expansions were identical with infinite subclasses of terms from the propagator expansion for the true many-body problem. The two principal models corresponded to ring- and ladder-diagram summations from the true propagator expansion, augmented by infinite classes of self-energy corrections. The model Hamiltonians were called stochastic because they contained parameters whose phases were fixed by random choices. In the present paper, more general models are formulated which yield formally summable propagator expansions for finite systems. The analysis is extended to correlation and Green's functions defined for nonequilibrium ensembles. The nonequilibrium treatment is developed in the Heisenberg representation in such a way that unlinked diagrams do not arise. A basic convergence question associated with the formal closed equations for the model propagators and correlation functions is examined by means of finite-difference integration of the Heisenberg equations of motion. This procedure appears to converge independently of whether the perturbation expansions for the propagators and correlation functions converge. It yields substantial support for the validity of the formal closed model equations.
A well-established method to deal with highly correlated systems is based on the expansion of the Green's function in terms of spectral moments. In the context of the Composite Operator Method one approximation is proposed: a set of n composite fields is assumed as fundamental basis and the dynamics is considered up to the order s. The resulting Green's function has a sn-pole structure. The truncation of the hierarchy of the equations of motion is made at the s-th order and the first s-1 equations are treated exactly. A theorem, which rules the conservation of the spectral moments, is presented. The procedure is applied to the Hubbard model and a recurrence relation for the calculation of its electronic spectral moments is derived.
The method of correlated basis functions provides a means of systematically exploiting our intuitive understanding of real physical systems. Here we seek especially to develop a formalism for describing systems of strongly interacting fermions, for example, nuclei and liquid
He3, using a complete set of correlated functions ${\ensuremath{\Psi}}_{\mathrm{m}}=\frac{F{\ensuremath{\Phi}}_{\mathrm{m}}}{{({\ensuremath{\Phi}}_{\mathrm{m}}, {F}^{2}{\ensuremath{\Phi}}_{\mathrm{m}})}^{\frac{1}{2}}}$.
F is taken as a product of two-body factors, $\ensuremath{\Pi}{i<j}^{}[f({r}_{\mathrm{ij}})]$, the
f(rij) embodying at least the correlations arising from strong short-range repulsions; and ${{\ensuremath{\Phi}}_{\mathrm{m}}}$, a set of independent-particle-model functions which might serve as a basis in the absence of highly singular interactions. The matrix elements
Hmn,
Nmn of the Hamiltonian and identity operators with respect to the correlated basis ${{\ensuremath{\Psi}}_{\mathrm{m}}}$ are evaluated by generalization of cluster-expansion techniques developed originally for the calculation of the partition function of a classical imperfect gas and adapted to the quantum-mechanical many-body problem by Iwamoto and Yamada. Contributions to our expansions for the
Hmn are classified according to order of magnitude in the quantity $\ensuremath{\rho}\ensuremath{\omega}$, where $\ensuremath{\omega}=\ensuremath{\int}({f}^{2}(r)\ensuremath{-}1)d\mathrm{r}$ is a "correlation parameter" and $\ensuremath{\rho}$ the average particle density. To the extent that $|\ensuremath{\rho}\ensuremath{\omega}|$ is small, it provides a true expansion parameter. A detailed technical discussion of the cluster expansions is given, with special emphasis on their symmetry properties upon truncation. Although the many-body problem is soluble by simultaneous diagonalization of the matrices (
Hmn) and (
Nmn), it is preferable first to transform to an orthonormal basis of "unperturbed" correlated functions ${{\ensuremath{\Theta}}_{\mathrm{m}}}$ with respect to which the Hamiltonian and identity operators have the matrix representations (
Hmn) and $({N}_{\mathrm{mn}})=({\ensuremath{\delta}}_{\mathrm{mn}})$, and then to attempt the separate diagonalization of (
Hmn). In general, such a transformation is expedited by the L\"owdin procedure carried out to the desired order in $\ensuremath{\rho}\ensuremath{\omega}$. However, a Schmidt orthogonalization scheme might prove more advantageous in specific cases. Field-theoretic techniques (of both perturbative and nonperturbative nature) may be brought to bear in the diagonalization of (
Hmn). The inverse of the unitary transformation which takes the basis ${{\ensuremath{\Phi}}_{\mathrm{m}}}$ into the basis ${{\ensuremath{\Theta}}_{\mathrm{m}}}$, applied to the given singular Hamiltonian, leads---for any
F in the class considered---to a non-singular "effective Hamiltonian." Following this formal cue, we set out to construct explicitly a second-quantized effective Hamiltonian which generates the same matrix elements, to prescribed order in $\ensuremath{\rho}\ensuremath{\omega}$, when operating between independent-particle kets of the model occupation-number representation, as does the given Hamiltonian in the configuration-space representation, between the corresponding correlated functions of the L\"owdin basis. The quasiparticles described by this effective Hamiltonian interact via well-behaved two-body, three-body, \ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{}\ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{}\ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{},
Q-body, \ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{}\ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{}\ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{} potentials, in contrast to the highly singular two-body interactions of the real particles. For small $|\ensuremath{\rho}\ensuremath{\omega}|$, the effective two-body forces predominate. An avenue to deeper understanding of the applicability of the nuclear-shell model and the dressed-quasiparticle theory of liquid
He3 has been opened. This article treats only the formalism for a uniform extended medium. Numerical calculations, as well as the extension of the method to finite systems, will follow.