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The Journal of Chemical Physics

N-Representability Problem for Fermion Density Matrices. I. The Second-Order Density Matrix with N =3

Darwin W. Smith

Published Nov 15, 1965• 32 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The N representability problem is the problem of how to recognize whether a given pth-order reduced density matrix is derivable from an antisymmetaic N-particle wavefunction ψ by integrating out all but coordinates from ψ*ψ. The conditions under which a given second-order density matrix is N representable by a three-particle wavefunction are discussed.

DOI
10.1063/1.1701504

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arXiv:1310.1246•Physical Review A•Jan 30, 2014•21 citations
The N representability problem is the problem of how to recognize whether a given pth-order reduced density matrix is derivable from an antisymmetaic N-particle wavefunction ψ by integrating out all but coordinates from ψ*ψ. The conditions under which a given second-order density matrix is N representable by a three-particle wavefunction are discussed.
For a quantum-mechanical system of NNN identical fermions, the NNN-representability problem is the problem of recognizing whether, for a given pth-order reduced density matrix ${\ensuremath{\Gamma}}^{(p)}(12\ensuremath{\cdots}p|{1}^{\ensuremath{'}}{2}^{\ensuremath{'}}\ensuremath{\cdots}{p}^{\ensuremath{'}})$, there exists an antisymmetric NNN-particle wave function $\ensuremath{\Psi}(12\ensuremath{\cdots}N)$ such that ${\ensuremath{\Gamma}}^{(p)}(12\ensuremath{\cdots}p|{1}^{\ensuremath{'}}{2}^{\ensuremath{'}}\ensuremath{\cdots}{p}^{\ensuremath{'}})=({N}{p})\ensuremath{\int}\ensuremath{\Psi}(12\ensuremath{\cdots}N)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{\ensuremath{\Psi}}^{*}({1}^{\ensuremath{'}}{2}^{\ensuremath{'}}\ensuremath{\cdots}{p}^{\ensuremath{'}},p+1\ensuremath{\cdots}N){d}_{{\ensuremath{\tau}}_{p+1}}\ensuremath{\cdots}{d}_{{\ensuremath{\tau}}_{N}}$. It is shown that if the Hamiltonian of a system is time-reversal invariant, and the number of particles, NNN, is even, the necessary and sufficient condition that an approximate first-order density matrix corresponding to a nondegenerate energy eigenstate be NNN-representable is that its natural spin-orbital occupation numbers be equal in pairs.
The NNN-representability problem for the first- and second-order density matrices is considered when NNN is an odd integer. Attention is restricted to those density matrices derivable from functions whose natural spin orbitals have certain paired properties. Neither pairing of spatial orbitals nor special spin properties are required in general, but they are discussed as special cases. New sufficient conditions for NNN-representability of the first-order density matrix are given. The second-order density matrix is studied in detail. Special cases in which the NNN-representability problem for the second-order density matrix can be solved are considered.
The proof of Smith, which gives the solution to the N-representability problem of the first-order density matrix for the case of N even and a nondegenerate energy eigenstate, is also shown to be valid for certain linear combinations of degenerate states. A connection is shown between these proper linear combinations and the eigenfuctions of a perturbed Hamiltonian for which all of the degeneracies have been lifted. For the case of S=0, all the eigenfunctions of the pth-order density matrix (natural p functions) can be taken to be eigenfunctions of total spin (Σ lim i=1pSi)2,and if orbital angular momentum is a constant of the motion, these natural p functions are eigenfunctions of the total orbital angular momentum for L=0. Simple wavefunctions are presented for which the natural 2 functions are not all eigenfunctions of the total pair spin. It is then shown that for MS=0 (any integral spin) or for L=1, ML=0, the natural 2 functions are eigenfunctions of (S1+S2)2 and (L1+L2)2, respectively.
We derive necessary conditions for any two-fermion reduced density matrix (2-RDM) to be representable by a pure NNN-fermion density matrix $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Psi}}{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Psi}}}^{*}$ where $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Psi}}$ is the wave function. These pure NNN-representability conditions of the 2-RDM are important because they provide stringent constraints beyond those from the Pauli and the generalized Pauli constraints on the structure of many-fermion 2-RDMs and their wave functions. The pure 2-RDM conditions are derived as generalized Pauli constraints on effective one-fermion reduced density matrices (1-RDMs) generated by the removal or addition of a fermion from the wave function. Computationally, we show for four-electron molecules that the derived pure NNN-representability conditions are nontrivially active for exact ground-state 2-RDMs and that they provide significant restrictions beyond the D, Q, and G ensemble NNN-representability conditions. Constraints on higher-order ppp-RDMs where p>2p>2p>2 are derived in a similar fashion. The constraints have potentially significant applications to computing strongly correlated many-fermion states with enhanced accuracy and decreased computational complexity.
The NNN-representability problem is the problem of determining whether there exists NNN-particle states with some prescribed property. Here we report an affirmative solution to the fermion NNN-representability problem when both the density and the paramagnetic current density are prescribed. This problem arises in current-density functional theory and is a generalization of the well-studied corresponding problem (only the density prescribed) in density functional theory. Given any density and paramagnetic current density satisfying a minimal regularity condition (essentially that a von Weiz\"acker--like canonical kinetic energy density is locally integrable), we prove that there exists a corresponding NNN-particle state. We prove this by constructing an explicit one-particle reduced density matrix in the form of a position-space kernel, i.e., a function of two continuous-position variables. In order to make minimal assumptions, we also address mathematical subtleties regarding the diagonal of, and how to rigorously extract paramagnetic current densities from, one-particle reduced density matrices in kernel form.