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CRC Press eBooks

The Quantum Distribution Functions

Michael J.R. Hoch

Published Apr 19, 2016• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Consider a pair of particles that may be either two fermions or two bosons. e Schrödinger equation for the system is written in terms of the Hamiltonian operator for the system as H( , ) ( , ) ( , ),1 2 1 2 1 2c c= E (12.1) where 1 represents the coordinates of particle 1 and 2 the coordinates of particle 2. e Hamiltonian (1, 2) must be symmetric under particle interchange because of the indistinguishability of the particles, giving H H( , ) ( , ).1 2 2 1= (12.2) e pair wave function χ(1, 2) may be either symmetric or antisymmetric. is can be seen by introducing the permutation operator P12, which permutes the coordinates of the particles.

DOI
10.1201/9781439850541-16

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•Jul 16, 2021•0 citations
Consider a pair of particles that may be either two fermions or two bosons. e Schrödinger equation for the system is written in terms of the Hamiltonian operator for the system as H( , ) ( , ) ( , ),1 2 1 2 1 2c c= E (12.1) where 1 represents the coordinates of particle 1 and 2 the coordinates of particle 2. e Hamiltonian (1, 2) must be symmetric under particle interchange because of the indistinguishability of the particles, giving H H( , ) ( , ).1 2 2 1= (12.2) e pair wave function χ(1, 2) may be either symmetric or antisymmetric. is can be seen by introducing the permutation operator P12, which permutes the coordinates of the particles.
The Hamiltonian for a system of n particles that are identical, that is, particles that can be substituted for each other with no physical change, must be completely symmetric under any interchange of its arguments. Let Ψ(1, 2, …, n) be any solution of the Schrödinger equation, depending on the coordinates (spatial and spin) of the n identical particles 1 to n, and let P be any permutation of the n numbers 1 to n. Then PΨ(1, 2, …, n) ≡ Ψ(P1, P2, …, Pn) is a function which depends on the coordinates of particle Ψ in the same manner as the original function Ψ depended on the coordinates of particle i. Then using the symmetry of H, we can show that the operator P commutes with the Hamiltonian ( 2-1 ) H ( P Ψ ) = P ( H Ψ ) https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780429493645/749bab20-4a79-4f5a-8c66-d9e9a36a87b9/content/eq89.tif"/>
In classical physics, the question whether there are subsets of identical particles is not particularly interesting. After all, whether the particles are identical or not, we can always track each of them at any time. As we shall see, in quantum mechanics identical particles are indistinguishable because we cannot track trajectories, and this fact induces some important symmetry properties on the total wave function describing the system of particles under consideration. Generally speaking, a symmetry is an effect of an invariance, that is, the system does not change if one effects certain transformations (see Ch. 8). In this case, the system is not modified under exchange of two identical particles. Moreover, such a symmetry yields a most interesting connection between spin and statistics. After a short introduction to the significance of statistics in quantum mechanics (in Sec. 7.1), we define the permutation operator and discuss the symmetry properties of the wave function of N identical particles (Sec. 7.2). In Sec. 7.3 we show that quantum particles, differently from classical particles (that obey the Maxwell–Boltzmann statistics), may be subject to two different statistics, namely the Fermi–Dirac statistics for fermions and the Bose–Einstein statistics for bosons. In Sec. 7.4 we treat the so-called exchange interaction and, finally, in Sec. 7.5 we consider some applications of the two statistics. Statistics and quantum mechanics Identical particles are those particles whose Hamiltonian is symmetric under exchange of one particle with the other.
It is demonstrated that in a system of NNN similar particles, the permissible wave functions are either symmetrical or antisymmetrical with respect to interchanges of the particles, if the following principles are assumed to be valid: (1) The interchange of two like particles produces no change in any measurable property of the system. In particular, if $\ensuremath{\psi}$ is to be a permissible wave function, $\ensuremath{\psi}\overline{\ensuremath{\psi}}$ must be unaltered by such an interchange. (2) All the wave functions obtained from a given permissible wave function by permuting the similar particles are also permissible wave functions for the same eigenvalue.
In a first part we give a brief presentation of general Fock space setting to describe quantum field theory. Bosons are quantum particles with integer spin and have symmetric wave functions; Fermions are quantum particles with half-integer spin and are represented by anti-symmetric wave functions. The functional setting is given by a symmetric or anti-symmetric tensor product of Hilbert spaces. We describe these spaces and transformations between these spaces. We shall follow the references [23, 42]. Coherent states are defined by translating the vacuum states with the Weyl operators. This is easily done here for bosons. We shall see in the next chapter how to deal with fermions. In a second part we give an interesting application of bosonic coherent states to the study of the classical limit as ℏ↘0\hbar \searrow 0ℏ↘0 of non-relativistic boson systems with two body interaction in the neighborhood of a solution of the classical system (here the Hartree equation). The classical limit corresponds here to the mean-field limit as the number of particles goes to infinity. As we have done for finite systems, we use here Hepp’s method, which is a linearization procedure of the quantum Hamiltonian around the classical field. The fluctuations around this solution are controlled by a purely quadratic Hamiltonian. In a series of several important papers [114–116] Ginibre and Velo have proven an asymptotic expansion and remainder estimates for these quantum fluctuations. Finally, following the paper [225] one can show that, in the limit ℏ→0\hbar \rightarrow 0ℏ→0, the marginal distribution of the time-evolved coherent states tends in trace-norm to the projector onto the solution of the classical fields equation (Hartree equation) with a uniform remainder estimates in time.
For systems which obey quantum mechanics, the formulation of the problem of treating large numbers of particles is, of course, somewhat different than it is for classical systems. The microscopic description of the system is provided by a wave function which (in the absence of spin) is a function of the classical coordinates { q i }. The mathematical model is provided by a Hamiltonian operator H which is often obtained from the corresponding classical Hamiltonian by the replacement p i → ( ħ /i)(∂/∂ q i ). In other cases the form of the Hamiltonian operator is simply postulated. The microscopic dynamics are provided by the Schrödinger equation i ħ (∂Ψ/∂ t ) = H Ψ which requires as initial condition the knowledge of the wave function Ψ({ q i }, t ) at some initial time t 0 . (Boundary conditions on Ψ({ q i }, t ) must be specified as part of the description of the model as well.) The results of experiments in quantum mechanics are characterized by operators, usually obtained, like the Hamiltonian, from their classical forms and termed observables. Operators associated with observables must be Hermitian. In general, the various operators corresponding to observables do not commute with one another. It is possible to find sets of commuting operators whose mutual eigenstates span the Hilbert space in which the wave function is confined by the Schrödinger equation and the boundary conditions. A set of such (time independent) eigenstates, termed ψ ν ( q ), is a basis for the Hilbert space.
Abstract “Identical particles and the helium atom” introduces bosons and fermions. Fermion states are expressed in terms of Slater determinants and the Pauli Principle. Helium is presented in such a way as to show what properties are and are not due to electron identity. Quantum states are described according as the space wave function is symmetric or antisymmetric under interchange of labels attached to the electrons. These in turn form singlet and triplet spin states when the electrons’ fermion identity is taken into account. Helium is an example of LS coupling, but a rather stunted example.