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Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A Mathematical and Physical Sciences

Collective motion in quantum mechanics

T. H. R. Skyrme

Published Mar 12, 1957• 7 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract A general method of discussing quantum-mechanical problems involving collective motion is proposed, in which the emphasis is placed on consideration of sets of states rather than single states, and in which the additional collective co-ordinates are not redundant but used to describe the sets. The method is applied to a number of relatively simple examples: plasma oscillations of an electron gas; some problems of nuclear structure including the α-particle model and the collective model; and to two problems in meson field theory, concerning nucleon isobars in strong-coupling theory and concerning nucleon recoil. One of the main aims is to determine as well as possible the parameters of the collective motion; in particular, a formula is given for the moment of inertia of a rotating system.

DOI
10.1098/rspa.1957.0050

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•Jan 1, 1977•2 citations
Abstract A general method of discussing quantum-mechanical problems involving collective motion is proposed, in which the emphasis is placed on consideration of sets of states rather than single states, and in which the additional collective co-ordinates are not redundant but used to describe the sets. The method is applied to a number of relatively simple examples: plasma oscillations of an electron gas; some problems of nuclear structure including the α-particle model and the collective model; and to two problems in meson field theory, concerning nucleon isobars in strong-coupling theory and concerning nucleon recoil. One of the main aims is to determine as well as possible the parameters of the collective motion; in particular, a formula is given for the moment of inertia of a rotating system.
This is the second of a series of papers aimed at exploiting a generalized self-consistent approach to the study of collective excited states in finite many-particle systems. It contains: (i) A restatement of the equations of the method with further discussion of the basic approximations involved; (ii) a study, through the medium of the exactly soluble problem of uniform translational motion, of the inherent limitations in accuracy of the method when applied to the "strong-coupling" limit for which it was designed. A mode of approximation which can be made self-consistent is indicated. (iii) This approximation is applied to the problem of rotational motion in a plane. In the further limit in which one assumes the spectrum of the rigid rotator, one regains the results of the self-consistent cranking model. In contrast to previous work, the possibility of removing this limitation is indicated, but remains to be carried through.
An elementary theory of quantum-mechnaical collective motion of many-particle systems is developed. The fundamental idea is illustrated by taking an example of surface oscillation of an incompressible system of particles. The essential point of the theory is, roughly speaking, the neglect of 1/√N against unity, N being the number of particles of the system. The method is a natural generalization of separation of translational motion from the internal relative motion by the use of centre of mass coordinates. A description in terms of field concept is briefly discussed.
The concept of an ideal collective coordinate is introduced by means of the following example: Consider a one-dimensional vibration of a many-body system in the sense that a large subset of states ∣n〉|n〉∣n〉 of the system exhibits an energy spectrum and relative transition probabilities following the laws of the (in general anharmonic) oscillator described by H\mathcal{H}H (${p}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}, \ensuremath{\alpha}$) $(\ensuremath{\alpha}|n)={\ensuremath{\omega}}_{n}(\ensuremath{\alpha}|n)$. We suppose the set of many-body states ∣n〉|n〉∣n〉 to extend indefinitely, and we take the transform $|\ensuremath{\alpha}〉=\ensuremath{\Sigma}|n〉$ ($n|\ensuremath{\alpha}$) to define a many-body generating state of the band which is precisely localized in $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ space. The basic assumption of collectivity, that changing the state of at most a few particles cannot much alter the value of $\ensuremath{\alpha}$, is shown to be sufficient to derive a phenomenological theory from the many-body starting point. The phenomenological aspects of a recent theory of rotations due to Villars is seen to be contained in the above formulation as a special case. A brief review is given of the generator coordinate and similar projection methods in order to exhibit their relationship with the present method.
The general problem of dissipation in macroscopic large-amplitude collective motion and its relation to energy diffusion of intrinsic degrees of freedom of a nucleus is studied. By applying the cranking approach to the nuclear many-body system, a set of coupled dynamical equations for the collective classical variable and the quantum mechanical occupancies of the intrinsic nuclear states is derived in the limit of weak coupling of the collective and intrinsic subsystems. Different dynamical regimes of the intrinsic nuclear motion and its consequences on time properties of collective dissipation are discussed.
This thesis is a collection of theoretical investigations into different aspects of the broad subject of quantum many-body theory. The results are grouped into three main parts, which in turn are divided into separate self-contained sections. Some of the work is presented in the form of published papers and papers that have been submitted for publication. The first section of Part A introduces some of the concepts involved in many-body problems, by developing methods to evaluate expectation values of the form . In the rest of Part A I consider collective excitations of finite quantum systems. The calculations are confined to nuclei because the results can then be compared with the extensive investigations that have been made into collective nuclear modes. In Section AII, wavefunctions are proposed for rotational excitations of even-even nuclei. Both isoscalar and isovector nuclear modes are discussed. In particular, the l2,m> isoscalar states are investigated for both spherical and deformed even-even nuclei, and the simplest isovector wavefunction is shown to give a good description of the giant dipole resonance. In section AIII wavefunctions are proposed for compressional vibrational states of spherical nuclei. Section AIV discusses sum rules for nuclear transitions of a given electric multipolarity. It is found that the 2+ and 1- states investigated in section AII and all but one of the vibrational states discussed in AIII each exhaust a large part of the appropriate sum rule. In Part B I consider the problem of how to describe flow in quantum fluids. In particular, we want to be able to identify the physical motion represented by any given many-body wavefunction. Section BI derives a guantum mechanical velocity field for a many-body system, paying special attention to the need for a quantum continuity equation. It is found that when the wavefunction has the usual time dependence e-iwt , that the quantum velocity formula averages over all oscillatory motion, so that much of the physical nature of the flow field is lost. In section BII a particular wavefunction is proposed to represent the quantum excitation corresponding to any given potential flow field. The results obtained by considering specific examples are very encouraging. In Part C I investigate the properties of surfaces. Section CI presents a theoretical description of the tension, energy and thickness of a classical liquid-vapour interface. In section CII the classical results are extended to describe the surface of a quantum system, namely superfluid helium four. Problems occur for the quantum system if the correlations arising from the zero-point-motion of the phonon modes are included in the ground state wavefunction. Finally, in section CIII discuss generalized virial theorems that give the change in the free energy of a system undergoing an infinitesimal deformation. For example, a particular deformation gives the expression used in CII, for the surface tension of a plane quantum surface.