The theory of Green's functions is briefly reviewed. It is discussed which properties of a quantum system and which physical processes can be described by Green's functions. A general approximation scheme to evaluate Green's functions and propagators is presented. Particular attention is paid to the one-particle Green's function and to the particle–particle propagator which is a relevant component of the two-particle Green's function. Several illustrative applications are presented and related to experiment.
The theory of Green's functions is briefly reviewed. It is discussed which properties of a quantum system and which physical processes can be described by Green's functions. A general approximation scheme to evaluate Green's functions and propagators is presented. Particular attention is paid to the one-particle Green's function and to the particle–particle propagator which is a relevant component of the two-particle Green's function. Several illustrative applications are presented and related to experiment.
This is the first of a series of papers dealing with many-particle systems from a unified, nonperturbative point of view. It contains derivations and discussions of various field-theoretical techniques which will be applied in subsequent papers. In a short introduction the general method of approach is summarized, and its relationship to other field-theoretic problems indicated. In the second section the macroscopic properties of the spectra of many-particle systems are described. Asymptotic evaluations are performed which characterize these macroscopic features in terms of intensive parameters, and the relationship of these parameters to thermodynamics is discussed. The special characteristics of the ground state are shown to follow as a limiting case of the asymptotic evaluations. The third section is devoted to the time-dependent field correlation functions, or Green's functions, which describe the microscopic behavior of a multiparticle system. These functions are defined, and related to intensive macroscopic variables when the energy and number of particles are large. Spectral representations and other properties of various one-particle Green's functions are derived. In the fourth section the treatment of non-equilibrium processes is considered. As a particular example, the electromagnetic properties of a system are expressed in terms of the special two-particle Green's function which describes current correlation. The discussion yields specifically a fluctuation-dissipation theorem, a sum rule for conductivity, and certain dispersion relations. The fifth section deals with the differential equations which determine the Green's functions. The boundary conditions that characterize the Green's function equations are exhibited without reference to adiabatic decoupling. A method for solving the equations approximately, by treating the correlations among successively larger numbers of particles, is considered. The first approximation in this sequence is shown to yield a generalized Hartree-like equation. A related, but rigorous, identity for the single-particle Green's function is then derived. A second approximation, which takes certain two-particle correlations into account, is shown to produce various additional effects: The interaction between particles is altered in a manner characterized by the intensive macroscopic parameters, and the modification and spread of the energy-momentum relation come into play. In the final section compact formal expressions for the Green's functions and other physical quantities are derived. Alternative equations and systematic approximations for the Green's functions are obtained.
The formal theory of Green functions is reviewed for many particle problems in nuclear physics or in solid state physics. In particular, one- and two-particle Green functions are discussed in detail. The Feynman amplitudes are also explained together with the effective potential and its applications. This article contains the following sections: §1. Preliminary remarks §2. Definition of Green functions §3. Structure of equations satisfied by Green functions 3.1 One-particle Green function 3.2 Two-particle Green function §4. Perturbation theory and its foundation §5. Spectral representation and its application §6. Connection with reaction matrix §7. Amplitudes and their matrix 7.1 Definitions of amplitudes and effective potential 7.2 Nuclear optical model 7.3 One electron in insulators and semi-conductors Appendix I. Functional differentiation Appendix II. Schwinger's dynamical principle Appendix III. Polaron problem
This article is devoted to the theoretical investigation of processes in macroscopic systems based on wave particle duality and quantum statistical distributions using the Green’s function method. In particular, it pro vides a detailed description of the properties and characteristics of the Green’s function for an ideal Fermi liquid, single- and two-particle Green’s functions, as well as Green’s functions at limiting temperatures and for the Dirac and Schrödinger equations. The study analyzes the application of the Green’s function method to processes in many-particle quantum systems and to solving equations that describe the constituent particles of such systems. For a given operator and set of boundary conditions, a Green’s function can be defined, al lowing the solution of the corresponding equation to be expressed in integral form. A distinctive feature of this method is the application of mathematical-physics tools, such as Fourier methods, integral transforms, special functions, and mathematical analysis, to problems in quantum physics governed by the principles of quantum and statistical mechanics. The relevance of this study stems from the application of the Green’s function method to the analysis of quantum phenomena. This approach is considered one of the effective methods for solving partial differential equations describing various physical processes. It involves transform ing the original differential equation into an equivalent integral equation involving Green’s functions, which can then be solved. The transformation involves passing to the momentum representation and applying Fouri er transforms using methods of complex analysis.
A purely algebraic approach to Green's functions is presented. The new formulation allows the determination of a closed-form equation for Green's functions which depends only on the ground state of the system. By a straightforward perturbation expansion of this state an interesting approximation scheme is obtained which is nonperturbative in the final states (e.g., excited or ionic states). This method, which can be used for various propagators, is explicitly applied to the particle-particle propagator carrying out the scheme up to third order. The approach is discussed in detail and briefly compared with the well-established algebraic diagrammatic construction approximation scheme.
After a qualitative discussion of the advantages of the density matrix and of the different ways to introduce it (the statistical, quantum mechanical and operational methods of approach), § 2 deals with the general properties of the density matrix, including a discussion of pure cases and mixtures. A brief discussion is given of Green function techniques and of the relation between Green functions and correlation functions. A discussion of recent developments in the evaluation of partition functions concludes the first part of this article dealing with the theory of density matrix techniques. Sections 5 to 9 discuss applications. The first application is the quantum-chemical one to many-body systems in their ground state, that is, systems at absolute zero, and it is shown how the density matrix fits into the Hartree-Fock and Thomas-Fermi schemes. A brief discussion is given of the theory of diamagnetism. This is followed by a discussion of non-equilibrium processes and of Kubo's approach to transport theory. After that the polarization of beams of electrons or of photons is discussed and it is indicated how density matrix techniques can be used to treat scattering processes. Section 9 concludes this part of the paper by a brief account of density matrix theory applications to resonance and relaxation phenomena. Finally, the theory of measurement in quantum mechanics is considered.
Many-body Green functions are a very efficient formulation of the many-body problem. We review the application of this method to nuclear physics problems. The formulas which can be derived are of general applicability, e.g., in self-consistent as well as in nonself-consistent calculations. With the help of the Landau renormalization, one obtains relations without any approximations. This allows to apply conservation laws which lead to important general relations. We investigate the one-body and two-body Green functions as well as the three-body Green function and discuss their connection to nuclear observables. The generalization to systems with pair correlations are also presented. Numerical examples are compared with experimental data.