SYSTEMS OF IDENTICAL PARTICLES
Mircea S. Rogalski, Stuart B. Palmer
If we consider ( ) 2,kr tΨ G to be the probability density for finding, at time t, particle 1 at particle k at and particle N at ,,1 … Gr …G ,kr ,Nr G a normalization condition analogous to Eq.(29.2) holds as (35.2) 1V* =ΨΨ∫ d The integral is defined in a space with 3N dimensions called the configuration space of the system, where a configuration point is given by 3N position coordinates 1 1 1, , , , , , , , , ,k k k N N N ,x y z x y z x y z… … and the volume element is NNNkkkNk dzdydxdzdydxdzdydxdddd ………… 1111 VVVV == Physical observables of the system will be represented by Hermitian operators, obtained from the classical representation in terms of the position and momentum variables as indicated by Postulate 2. Thus the many-particle Hamiltonian results from Eq.(2.32) as ( ) (∑ ∑ = ≠ ⎥⎥⎦ ⎤ ⎢⎢⎣ ⎡ ++∇−= k rrUtrU m H ,, 2 ˆ GGG= ) ) (35.3) where only acts on the coordinates of the kth particle, of mass The one-particle potential energy is due to external fields where this particle moves and k∇ .km( trU kk ,G( )jkkj rrU GG , gives the mutual interaction between the particles k and j. It is assumed that the position and momentum operators of different particles commute, and so do all the operators describing single-particle observables if they refer to different particles. The evolution of a many-particle system will be then formulated as a generalization of Eq.(30.6) in terms of given by Eqs.(35.1) and (35.3) HˆandΨ Ψ=∂ Ψ∂ H t i ˆ= (35.4) If the Hamiltonian (35.3) does not depend explicitly on the time, it is usual to express the time dependence of the many-particle state function by means of the evolution operator defined as ( )tUˆ ( ) ( ) ( )NkNk rrrtUtrrr G…G…GG…G…G ,,,,ˆ,,,,, 11 αΨ=Ψ (35.5) which is formally derived from Eq.(35.4) as ( ) ( ) ( )ˆˆ ˆU ti U t i HU t t t ˆα α α ∂∂ ⎡ ⎤Ψ = Ψ =⎣ ⎦∂ ∂= = Ψ It follows that (35.6) ( ) =/ˆˆ tHietU −= which is the analogue of Eq.(30.12). The evolution operator is unitary, Eq.(II.22), since ( ) ( )†ˆ ˆU t U t Iˆ= (35.7) Substituting Eq.(35.5), one obtains from Eq.(35.4) that the stationary states of the Nparticle systems are given by the energy eigenvalue equation ( ) ( )1 1ˆ , , , , , , , ,k N k NH r r r E r r rα α αΨ = ΨG G G G G G… … … … (35.8) The solution to the N-particle problem is facilitated if we take into account the symmetries of many systems of physical interest, which allow us to define constants of motion and criteria for simplifying the form (35.3) of the Hamiltonian operator. An alternative to complex explicit calculations is to associate with specific symmetries time independent unitary operators which transform the state functions into so that Eq.(35.4) gives ˆ ,U Ψ ˆ ,U Ψ ( ) ( )†ˆ ˆ ˆ ˆ ˆ ˆ ˆi U i U UH UHU Ut t∂ ∂ΨΨ = = Ψ = Ψ∂ ∂= = ˆ This is again a Schrödinger equation for the state Uˆ Ψ with the new Hamiltonian †ˆ ˆ ˆ ˆH UHU′ = If the Hamiltonian remains unchanged by the transformation, we have (35.9) †ˆ ˆ ˆ ˆ ˆ ˆor , 0H UHU U H⎡ ⎤= ⎣ ⎦ = According to the evolution equation (29.43), this implies that so that U is a constant of motion. If the unitary transformation which leaves the Hamiltonian invariant, is a function of an observable, its constancy implies that the given observable is a constant in any state of the system.
CRC Press eBooks•Jan 8, 2014•0 citations