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Frontiers in Physics

Contact Interactions and Gamma Convergence

Gianfausto Dell’Antonio

Published Apr 9, 2019• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In Classical Mechanics constraints describe forces restricting the motion of two systems when they are in contact. In Quantum Mechanics in the Schrodinger representation the state of the system is described by a (probability) wave and the Schrodinger equation is dispersive (it does not preserve locality of the wave function): at any time the wave function is spread out over all space. It is difficult to define "contact". To avoid this difficulty it is convenient to use the Heisenberg representation and describe the system by means of self-adjoint operators on some function space. Each self-adjoint operator operator has a domain of definition. We consider first in some detail the dynamics in R^3 and later consider the case of dimension two and dimension one. In three dimension contact interactions gives the Efimov spectrum of trimers and quadrimers in low energy physics and the Bose-Einstein condensate, both in low density and in high density. The case of dimension one is particularly interesting because the system may represent three particles on a Y-shaped graph with contact interaction at the vertex. We consider both the case of Bose particles which satisfy the Schrodinger equation and the case of spin 1\2 fermions which satisfy the Pauli equation. They form respectively Bose crystals and Fermi crystals (not necessary periodic). In both cases there is only one bound state at each vertex. In an extended crystal, due to Fermi-Dirac statistics, all bound states may be occupied to form the Fermi sea. The particles on the surface have a Dirac spectrum. We prove that in the semiclassical limit the dynamics of particles on the surface of the Fermi sea is the (classical) motion studied in detail by Novikov and Maltsev. In this semiclassical description the Fermi surface can be deformed by a magnetic field and one may have topological resonances.

DOI
10.3389/fphy.2019.00040

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Abstract In Dell’Antonio (Eur Phys J Plus 13:1–20, 2021), we explored the possibility to analyse contact interaction in Quantum Mechanics using a variational tool, Gamma Convergence. Here, we extend the analysis in Dell’Antonio (Eur Phys J Plus 13:1–20, 2021) of joint weak contact of three particles to the non-relativistic case in which the free one particle Hamiltonian is $$ H_0 = - \frac{\Delta }{2M} $$ H 0 = - Δ 2 M . We derive the Gross–Pitaevskii equation for a system of three particles in joint weak contact. We then define and study strong contact and show that the Gross–Pitaevskii equation is also the variational equation for the energy of the Bose–Einstein condensate (strong contact in a four-particle system). We add some comments on Bogoliubov’s theory. In the second part, we use the non-relativistic Pauli equation and weak contact to derive the spectrum of the conduction electrons in an infinite crystal. We prove that the spectrum is pure point with multiplicity two and eigenvalues that scale as $$ \frac{1}{log {n}}$$ 1 logn .

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We introduce \emph{contact (zero range) interactions } , a special class of self-adjoint extensions of the N-body Schrödinger free hamiltonian $ H_0$ restricted to functions with support away from the \emph{contact manifold} $ Γ\equiv \cup Γ_{i,j} \;\;\; Γ_{i,j}\equiv \{x_i = x_j \; i \not= j \} \;,\; x_i \in R^3 $. These extensions are defined by boundary conditions at $ Γ$. We discuss the spectral properties as function of the masses and the statistics The (Efimov) spectrum is entirely due "conspiracy" of the contact interactions of two pairs. These states are called in Theoretical Physics \emph{trimers} if the two pairs have an element in common, \emph{quadrimers} otherwise. The analysis can be extended to the case in which there is a regular two-body potential, but then the spectral properties cannot be given explicitly. We prove that these interactions are limit (in strong resolvent sense) when $ ε\to 0$ of N-body hamiltonians $ H_ε= H_0+ \sum_{i,j} \frac {1}{ε^3}V_{i,j}( \frac {|x_i-x_j|}ε) ,\; V_{i,j} \in L^1 $. The result is \emph{ independent of the shape of the potential} Strong resolvent convergence implies convergence of spectra.This makes contact interaction a valuable tool in the study of the spectrum of a system of $N$ particles interacting through potentials of very short range.

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In Classical Mechanics constraints describe forces restricting the motion of two systems when they are in contact. In Quantum Mechanics in the Schrodinger representation the state of the system is described by a (probability) wave and the Schrodinger equation is dispersive (it does not preserve locality of the wave function): at any time the wave function is spread out over all space. It is difficult to define "contact". To avoid this difficulty it is convenient to use the Heisenberg representation and describe the system by means of self-adjoint operators on some function space. Each self-adjoint operator operator has a domain of definition. We consider first in some detail the dynamics in R^3 and later consider the case of dimension two and dimension one. In three dimension contact interactions gives the Efimov spectrum of trimers and quadrimers in low energy physics and the Bose-Einstein condensate, both in low density and in high density. The case of dimension one is particularly interesting because the system may represent three particles on a Y-shaped graph with contact interaction at the vertex. We consider both the case of Bose particles which satisfy the Schrodinger equation and the case of spin 1\2 fermions which satisfy the Pauli equation. They form respectively Bose crystals and Fermi crystals (not necessary periodic). In both cases there is only one bound state at each vertex. In an extended crystal, due to Fermi-Dirac statistics, all bound states may be occupied to form the Fermi sea. The particles on the surface have a Dirac spectrum. We prove that in the semiclassical limit the dynamics of particles on the surface of the Fermi sea is the (classical) motion studied in detail by Novikov and Maltsev. In this semiclassical description the Fermi surface can be deformed by a magnetic field and one may have topological resonances.
Abstract In Dell’Antonio (Eur Phys J Plus 13:1–20, 2021), we explored the possibility to analyse contact interaction in Quantum Mechanics using a variational tool, Gamma Convergence. Here, we extend the analysis in Dell’Antonio (Eur Phys J Plus 13:1–20, 2021) of joint weak contact of three particles to the non-relativistic case in which the free one particle Hamiltonian is H0=−Δ2M H_0 = - \frac{\Delta }{2M} H0​=−2MΔ​ H 0 = - Δ 2 M . We derive the Gross–Pitaevskii equation for a system of three particles in joint weak contact. We then define and study strong contact and show that the Gross–Pitaevskii equation is also the variational equation for the energy of the Bose–Einstein condensate (strong contact in a four-particle system). We add some comments on Bogoliubov’s theory. In the second part, we use the non-relativistic Pauli equation and weak contact to derive the spectrum of the conduction electrons in an infinite crystal. We prove that the spectrum is pure point with multiplicity two and eigenvalues that scale as 1logn \frac{1}{log {n}}logn1​ 1 logn .
We introduce \emph{contact (zero range) interactions } , a special class of self-adjoint extensions of the N-body Schrödinger free hamiltonian $ H_0$ restricted to functions with support away from the \emph{contact manifold} $ Γ\equiv \cup Γ_{i,j} \;\;\; Γ_{i,j}\equiv \{x_i = x_j \; i \not= j \} \;,\; x_i \in R^3 $. These extensions are defined by boundary conditions at $ Γ$. We discuss the spectral properties as function of the masses and the statistics The (Efimov) spectrum is entirely due "conspiracy" of the contact interactions of two pairs. These states are called in Theoretical Physics \emph{trimers} if the two pairs have an element in common, \emph{quadrimers} otherwise. The analysis can be extended to the case in which there is a regular two-body potential, but then the spectral properties cannot be given explicitly. We prove that these interactions are limit (in strong resolvent sense) when $ ε\to 0$ of N-body hamiltonians $ H_ε= H_0+ \sum_{i,j} \frac {1}{ε^3}V_{i,j}( \frac {|x_i-x_j|}ε) ,\; V_{i,j} \in L^1 $. The result is \emph{ independent of the shape of the potential} Strong resolvent convergence implies convergence of spectra.This makes contact interaction a valuable tool in the study of the spectrum of a system of NNN particles interacting through potentials of very short range.
1. Schroedinger operators : spectra, scattering and semiclassical behaviour.- Negative discrete spectrum of the Schroedinger operator with large coupling constant : qualitative discussion.- Discrete spectrum in the gaps of the continuous one in the large-coupling-constant limit.- On the asymptotics of discrete spectrum for the Schroedinger operator in electric and homogeneous magnetic fields.- Asymptotics of the discrete spectrum of Hamiltonians of quantum systems with a homogeneous magnetic field.- Asymptotics of eigenvalues for many-particle Hamiltonians at symmetry subspaces.- Spectral asymptotics with highly accurate remainder estimates.- Bound states and resonances in quantum wires.- Spectral properties of the operators H? = ??XX + p(x)? + v(?x), p is periodic.- Discrete spectrum for a periodic Schroedinger operator perturbed by a decreasing potential.- On a complete description of the principal discrete series of spectral invariants of the Hill operator.- WKB-approximations from the perturbation theory viewpoint.- Moving potentials and the completeness of wave operators. Part II : Propagating observables on scattering states.- Representation of the three-body S-matrix in terms of effective amplitudes.- A three-body one-dimensional system with increasing interaction : wave function asymptotics.- Surprises of quantum tunneling (something about the velocity of sub-barrier motion).- 2. Point and contact interactions, self-adjoint extensions.- Lifshitz tails and non-Lifshitz tails for one-dimensional random point interactions.- Point interactions with an internal structure as limits of nonlocal point interactions.- Green's function for the Aharonov-Bohm effect with a non-Abelian gauge group.- A model of zero-width slits and the real diffraction problem.- Construction of an inelastic scatterer in nanoelectronics by the extension-theory methods.- On boundary theory for Schroedinger operators and stochastic processes.- Dirac Hamiltonian with Coulomb potential and contact intraction on a sphere.- Self-adjoint extensions of Schroedinger operators with singular potentials.- Currents and the extension theory.- 3. Quantum chaos.- Chaotic quantum billiards.- Relevance of the localization to quasienergy statistics in quantum chaotic systems.- Singular continuous quasi-energy spectrum in the kicked rotator with separable perturbation : onset of quantum chaos ?.- Relation between correlation functions and spectrum statistics in the region of quantum chaos.- 4. Other topics.- Localization effects in non-homogeneous dielectrics.- A self-adjoint dilation of the linear Boltzmann operator.- Kato problem for functional-differential equations and difference Schroedinger operators.- An existence theorem for some nonlinear nonlocal Schroedinger operators and the solitonlike dynamics for the corresponding dynamical systems.- The Sturm-Liouville problem with a potential linear in spectral parameter.- Stochastic model of tree growth.- Critical phenomenon in the stationary model of random growth.- On a quantum-classical connection, hidden symmetries and a model of Josephson junction.- Open multiquantum systems. Method of a generating functional.- Generalized functions and their applications.- List of unpublished contributions.- List of participants.
The object of this thesis is to study the definition and the mathematically rigorous derivation of effective models in many body quantum mechanics. In this field, it is often impossible to compte exactly physically relevant quantities - such as the ground state energy of a system - because of the large number of degrees of freedom. Hence, introducing effective models (depending only on the local density of particles for instance) allows us to compute these quantities. Then, it remains to check that the effective model is indeed an approximation of the exact model in a macroscopic limit. Besides, in some models, some physical quantities (energy, scattering amplitude...), when computed naively, appear to be infinite. One has then to renormalize the theory in order to make these divergences (that are not observed experimentally) disappear. After putting the results of this thesis into context in the introduction, we will focus on the renormalization of a bosonic quadratic Hamiltonian on the Fock space in Chapter 2. This (formal) Hamiltonian is the sum of the second quantization of a one-particle operator and the square of a field operator, and it exhibits an ultraviolet divergence (i.e. coming from local singularities). More accurately, we will try to define a self-adjoint operator, and to show that it is the limit (in the resolvent sense) of the Hamiltonian with ultraviolet cutoff when the cutoff tends to infinity. To do so, we will first diagonalize the Hamiltonian in the regular case, using Bogoliubov transformations. Then, we will prove that the diagonalized Hamiltonian (up to a renormalization of the energy and the charge) still defines a self-adjoint, and we will show the convergence of the Hamiltonian with cut-off. In a second time, we will study the semi-classical limit of a Fermi gas, in two different scalings. In Chapter 3, we will focus on the dilute limite (i.e. with an interaction range very small compared to the typical distance between particles) of an inhomogeneous (trapped with a potential V) Fermi gas, with repulsive interactions and in three dimensions. Due to the Pauli exclusion principle, two fermions of same spin can only rarely be close enough to interact. Thus, we will consider a Fermi gas with two spin components. We will then show that the ground state energy of such a system can be approximated by a Thomas-Fermi energy (in which interactions play the role of a perturbation of the interactionless energy) in the large number of particles limit. Eventually, in Chapter 4, we will study the mean-field limit (with frequent but weak interactions) of an inhomogeneous Fermi gas, with attractive interactions and in one or two dimensions this time. Once more, we will show the convergence of the ground state energy toward a Thomas-Fermi energy. Moreover, we will also prove the convergence of the ground states. More accurately, we will show that the Husimi functions of these ground states converge to a convex combination of minimizers of the Vlasov energy.
In the previous chapters, the focus was on systems of particles following the law of classical mechanics. Of course, this was mainly done within the framework of classical mechanics but a quantum description of individual (discretised) states was also used, while assuming distinguishability of the particles (for instance, particles located at the nodes of a lattice (spin system, quantum harmonic oscillators,) ). The present chapter as well as Chapters 7 and 8 are dedicated to the study of statistical physics in a fully quantum framework. The first obstacle encountered by a quantum approach is the impossibility to define a quantum phase space (in which the ergodic hypothesis would hold for instance). This problem is inherent to quantum mechanics: because of Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, one cannot define both the momentum and the position of a particle. Besides, statistical physics considers systems made of a large number of particles, a priori in mutual interaction. In classical physics, model situations for which the interactions between the constituents of the system are neglected can be studied. In quantum mechanics, the indistinguishability of identical particles makes the study of the problem in the absence of interaction already difficult: even for non-interacting particles, the symmetrisation (or antisymmetrisation) of the wave function of https://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> N https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href=" https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781003272427/5ca4d37a-9786-43a3-8b38-8fa9eb3d1a19/content/math_25.tif "/> identical particles induces correlations which have non-trivial thermodynamical effects such as the existence of a “Fermi sea” for fermions (see Section 8.1 ) or the Bose–Einstein condensation phenomenon for bosons (see Section 7.4 ). The present chapter addresses these two points consecutively.