Cluster development may furnish a powerful device for the calculation of the expectation values of the observables of a many-fermion system with respect to dynamically correlated state vectors. The generalized normalization integral, a generating function for the required expectation values, is defined, and four of the many possible decompositions of this function into cluster integrals are explored. Two of these decompositions are slight extensions of the conventional ones of Iwamoto and Yamada and Aviles, Hartogh, and Tolhoek. The other two are product decompositions, leading to new ``factor-cluster'' formalisms. A factor-cluster expansion is applied to the evaluation of the n-particle spatial distribution function.
A new variational approach is developed for studying the properties of systems of particles interacting through singular short-range repulsions that give rise to strong two-particle correlations. The correlated trial function ${\ensuremath{\Psi}}_{\ensuremath{\gamma}}={e}^{S}{\ensuremath{\Phi}}_{\ensuremath{\gamma}}$ (state $\ensuremath{\gamma}$) results, with proper choice of
S, in a simple form for the energy expectation value
〈H〉---as well as for other matrix elements of interest---which is devoid of all reference to the strong repulsions except through
e2S factors and hence is particularly suited to calculation. In many cases an independent-particle type ${\ensuremath{\Phi}}_{\ensuremath{\gamma}}$ seems appropriate. The cluster evaluation of this form for
〈H〉 is discussed, both in the few-particle and many-particle cases. Using the techniques of Iwamoto and Yamada, simplified convergent cluster expansions for the energy expectation value are derived for many-fermion and many-boson systems. A program for application of this method to nuclear problems is being initiated.
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.
The ``factor-cluster'' formalisms introduced in the preceding paper are used as a tool for a further development of the cluster theories proposed by Iwamoto and Yamada and by Aviles, Hartogh, and Tolhoek. The primitive decomposition characterizing each of the older formalisms is rearranged into the exponential of a series with a uniform N dependence in the limit of large N. In addition a ``linked cluster'' theorem is proven for the series comprising the exponent in the Iwamoto-Yamada formalism. Our derivations, unlike those of earlier authors, are valid for all N.
We study many-body correlations in the ground state of a general quantum system of bosons or fermions by including an additional Jastrow function in our recently proposed variational coupled-cluster method. Our approach combines the advantages of state-dependent correlations in the coupled-cluster theory and of the strong, short-ranged correlations of the Jastrow function. We apply a generalized linked-cluster expansion for the Jastrow wave function and provide a detailed analysis for practical evaluation of the Hamiltonian expectation value as an energy functional of the Jastrow function and the bare density-distribution functions introduced and calculated in our earlier publications; a simple, first-order energy functional is derived and detailed formulas for the higher-order contributions are provided. Our energy functional does not suffer the divergence as most coupled-cluster calculations often do when applying to Hamiltonians with hardcore potentials. We also discuss possible applications of our technique, including applications to strongly correlated fermion systems.