The expansion of operators as ordered power series in the annihilation and creation operators
a and ${a}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}$ is examined. It is found that normally ordered power series exist and converge quite generally, but that for the case of antinormal ordering the required
c-number coefficients are infinite for important classes of operators. A parametric ordering convention is introduced according to which normal, symmetric, and antinormal ordering correspond to the values $s=+1,0,\ensuremath{-}1$, respectively, of an order parameter
s. In terms of this convention it is shown that for bounded operators the coefficients are finite when
s>0, and the series are convergent when
s>21. For each value of the order parameter
s, a correspondence between operators and
c-number functions is defined. Each correspondence is one-to-one and has the property that the function $f(\ensuremath{\alpha})$ associated with a given operator
F is the one which results when the operators
a and ${a}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}$ occurring in the ordered power series for
F are replaced by their complex eigenvalues $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ and ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}^{*}$. The correspondence which is realized for symmetric ordering is the Weyl correspondence. The operators associated by each correspondence with the set of $\ensuremath{\delta}$ functions on the complex plane are discussed in detail. They are shown to furnish, for each ordering, an operator basis for an integral representation for arbitrary operators. The weight functions in these representations are simply the functions that correspond to the operators being expanded. The representation distinguished by antinormal ordering expresses operators as integrals of projection operators upon the coherent states, which is the form taken by the
P representation for the particular case of the density operator. The properties of the full set of representations are discussed and are shown to vary markedly with the order parameter
s.
The structure of ordered expansions in powers of boson operators and of canonical operators and the dual problem of operator reconstruction from ordered moments is derived and applied to the complete Gaussian class of ordering. In particular, the interpolation lines between normal and antinormal ordering and between standard and antistandard ordering with Weyl symmetrical ordering in their centre are dealt with in detail. The auxiliary operators for expansions in symmetrical ordering are explicitly found in the Fock-state representation and in other different representations. General and specialized formulae are derived for different ordering of powers of linear combinations of boson and of canonical operators which involve Hermite polynomials of operators. The link between symmetrical ordering of powers of boson operators and of canonical operators is expressed by means of Jacobi polynomials. Some basic formulae of operator ordering and operator expansion are collected for convenient use in the appendix.
We show how series expansions of functions of bosonic number operators are naturally derived from finite-difference calculus. The scheme employs Newton series rather than Taylor series known from differential calculus, and also works in cases where the Taylor expansion fails. For a function of number operators, such an expansion is automatically normal ordered. Applied to the Holstein-Primakoff representation of spins, the scheme yields an exact series expansion with a finite number of terms and, in addition, allows for a systematic expansion of the spin operators that respects the spin commutation relations within a truncated part of the full Hilbert space. Furthermore, the Newton series expansion strongly facilitates the calculation of expectation values with respect to coherent states. As a third example, we show that factorial moments and factorial cumulants arising in the context of photon or electron counting are a natural consequence of Newton series expansions. Finally, we elucidate the connection between normal ordering, Taylor and Newton series by determining a corresponding integral transformation, which is related to the Mellin transform.
We show how series expansions of functions of bosonic number operators are naturally derived from finite-difference calculus. The scheme employs Newton series rather than Taylor series known from differential calculus, and also works in cases where the Taylor expansion fails. For a function of number operators, such an expansion is automatically normal ordered. Applied to the Holstein-Primakoff representation of spins, the scheme yields an exact series expansion with a finite number of terms and, in addition, allows for a systematic expansion of the spin operators that respects the spin commutation relations within a truncated part of the full Hilbert space. Furthermore, the Newton series expansion strongly facilitates the calculation of expectation values with respect to coherent states. As a third example, we show that factorial moments and factorial cumulants arising in the context of photon or electron counting are a natural consequence of Newton series expansions. Finally, we elucidate the connection between normal ordering, Taylor and Newton series by determining a corresponding integral transformation, which is related to the Mellin transform.