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Physical Review A

Contraction theorem for the algebraic reduction of (anti)commutators involving operator strings

Frank E. Harris, Bogumił Jeziorski, Hendrik J. Monkhorst

Published Apr 1, 1981• 33 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A proof by induction is given of the so-called contraction theorem for the evaluation of (anti)commutators of strings of Fermion creation and annihilation operators. This theorem bears some formal similarity to Wick's theorem but is essentially simpler and its applications do not lead to any disconnected diagrams. Examples of applications to configuration-interaction and coupled-cluster methods are presented.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.23.1632

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A proof by induction is given of the so-called contraction theorem for the evaluation of (anti)commutators of strings of Fermion creation and annihilation operators. This theorem bears some formal similarity to Wick's theorem but is essentially simpler and its applications do not lead to any disconnected diagrams. Examples of applications to configuration-interaction and coupled-cluster methods are presented.
Reordering of operators in the second quantization formalism is described by using state operators as basic operators, where the state operator is either a cluster of creation operators or that of annihilation operators specified by a set of quantum numbers of any representation. The commutation relation between state operators is simply expressed in terms of the coefficient of fractional parentage (cfp), the factor specific to state operator (de) composition. Wick’s theorem, prevalently applied to a string of creation and annihilation operators, is extended to a string of state operators. Similar extension is done for the contraction theorem.
Wick's theorem provides a connection between time ordered products of bosonic or fermionic fields, and their normal ordered counterparts. We consider a generic pair of operator orderings and we prove, by induction, the theorem that relates them. We name this the general Wick's theorem (GWT) because it carries Wick's theorem as special instance, when one applies the GWT to time and normal orderings. We establish the GWT both for bosonic and fermionic operators, i.e., operators that satisfy c-number commutation and anticommutation relations respectively. We remarkably show that the GWT is the same, independent of the type of operator involved. By means of a few examples, we show how the GWT helps treat demanding problems by reducing the amount of calculations required.
In the context of many-body quantum mechanics, one often encounters the need to evaluate expectation values of operators or their matrix elements. For instance, given a Hamiltonian https://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> H ^ , we typically want to evaluate its expectation value, which is the energy of the system, https://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> E = ⟨ H ^ ⟩ . In second quantization, the matrix element of an operator can always be expressed as a vacuum expectation value. This generally yields an expression which is hard to evaluate. Fortunately, a powerful tool to simplify these calculations exists: Wick's theorem. This theorem provides a systematic way to break down expressions involving products of creation and annihilation operators into sums of simpler terms.
Wick's theorem for the expectation value of an operator between many-particle states is generalized to the case of a homogeneous linear transformation operator Oˆ\^OOˆ, which leaves invariant the 2N2N2N-dimensional linear space composed of the annihilation and the creation operators for the N fermion or boson single-particle basis. Such a transformation generally belongs to the group SO(2N,C)\mathrm{SO}(2N,C)SO(2N,C) for the case of fermion, or the group Sp(2N,C)\mathrm{Sp}(2N,C)Sp(2N,C) for the case of boson. This theorem is applied to derive a reduction theorem for the matrix element of the type $〈\ensuremath{\alpha}|{\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{1}{\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{2}\ensuremath{\cdot}\ensuremath{\cdot}\ensuremath{\cdot}{\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{m}\^O{\ensuremath{\beta}}_{m+1}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}{\ensuremath{\beta}}_{m+2}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}\ensuremath{\cdot}\ensuremath{\cdot}\ensuremath{\cdot}{\ensuremath{\beta}}_{2n}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}|\ensuremath{\beta}〉,$ whose many-quasiparticle states and vacua appearing in both sides are represented in different quasiparticle pictures as indicated by $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ and $\ensuremath{\beta}.$ The reduction formula is useful in calculating any nuclear transition matrix element for the quantum-number projection calculation associated with the constrained Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov solutions, and also the generator coordinate method with quantum number projection.