Methods in the Many-Body Problem
A. B. Migdal
The solution of Schrödinger’s equation for systems composed of a large number of strongly interacting particles is an unsolved problem. Indeed, even the classical three-body problem cannot be solved in general form. Fortunately, the problem of obtaining the Ψ-function of such a system is not only insoluble but unnecessary; such a detailed description of the many-body problem is not required by any experiment that is possible in real life. Any real experimental set-up contains a comparatively small number of particle indicators, and hence, in cases where a large number of particles take part in a given process, can give only their averaged characteristics. Any attempt to determine the coordinates of every particle of such a system would lead (because of the uncertainty relation) to a complicated excited state and would indeed change the properties of the system. Thus, the description of a macroscopic system by means of a wave function is an inadequate approach * : we need 262 instead methods of incomplete description, which determine only the relations between averaged quantities. An example of such a description is hydrodynamics, the equations of which determine only the average velocity of the particles at each point (i. e. the velocity field). A second example, closer to our problem, is the kinetic equation, which allows us to find the distribution of particles with respect to velocity and position. A knowledge of the one-particle distribution function f ( r ˜ , p ˜ , t ) https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780429497940/5adca591-a306-49c7-affc-2d249cfef85c/content/eq1304.tif"/> , which depends on the coordinate r ˜ https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780429497940/5adca591-a306-49c7-affc-2d249cfef85c/content/eq1305.tif"/> and velocity p ˜ https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780429497940/5adca591-a306-49c7-affc-2d249cfef85c/content/eq1306.tif"/> of the particles, allows us to calculate the mean values of additive quantities such as the density n ( r ˜ ) = ∑ i δ ( r ˜ - r ˜ i ) https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780429497940/5adca591-a306-49c7-affc-2d249cfef85c/content/eq1307.tif"/> or the momentum per unit volume j ˜ ( r ˜ ) = ∑ i p ˜ i δ ( r ˜ - r ˜ i ) https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780429497940/5adca591-a306-49c7-affc-2d249cfef85c/content/eq1308.tif"/> . The two-particle distribution function f ( r ˜ 1 , r ˜ 2 ; p ˜ 1 , p ˜ 2 ; t ) https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780429497940/5adca591-a306-49c7-affc-2d249cfef85c/content/eq1309.tif"/> allows us to find the correlations between the coordinates and the velocities of two particles and to determine the averages of quantities which depend on the coordinates of two particles, for instance the mean value of the pairwise interaction energy V = ∑ ik V ( r ˜ i - r ˜ k ) https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780429497940/5adca591-a306-49c7-affc-2d249cfef85c/content/eq1310.tif"/> . The periodic or weakly damped solutions of the equation for the distribution function give the eigenfrequencies of the system.
CRC Press eBooks•Mar 5, 2018•0 citations