International Journal of Modern Physics B
THE SURPRISING PHENOMENON OF LEVEL MERGING IN FINITE FERMI SYSTEMS
J. W. Clark, VICTOR A. KHODEL, Haochen Li, MIKHAIL V. ZVEREV
Abstract
When applied to a finite Fermi system having a degenerate single-particle spectrum, the Landau-Migdal Fermi-liquid approach leaves room for the possibility that different single-particle energy levels merge with one another. It will be argued that the opportunity for this behavior exists over a wide range of strongly interacting quantum many-body systems. An inherent feature of the mergence phenomenon is the presence of nonintegral quasiparticle occupation numbers, which implies a radical modification of the standard quasiparticle picture. Consequences of this alteration are surveyed for nuclear, atomic, and solid-state systems.