Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-theoretical-physics-ii-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2013/paper-1/4/a/solution
Past exam of the theoretical physics II course of the University of Cambridge 2013 Paper 1 4 a Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
There is a state-assumption issue. For a number-conserving Gaussian quantum state with no anomalous contractions, put , and the one-body density matrix . Wick's theorem pairs each creation operator with an annihilation operator. The direct pairing gives ; the exchanged pairing gives , with for bosons and for fermions. Hencenormal ordering removes the equal-position delta-function self-counting term. Fermionic occupation-number product states are Slater determinants and obey this Wick theorem. Independent thermal bosonic modes also obey it, with understood as mean occupations.
A bosonic Fock product state does not generally obey the asserted identity. The bosonic number-state corrections to Gaussian density correlations follow from and giveFor one occupied mode this is , whereas the uncorrected Gaussian expression gives . TODO: the bosonic state specification needs the Gaussian/thermal assumption, or the number-state correction must be retained. The Gaussian formulas below give the intended result under that stated qualification. The ensemble distinction is also explicit in a later primary treatment of ideal-gas correlations.[ref]
Quantum Correlations of Ideal Bose and Fermi Gases in the Canonical Ensemble by Kazumasa Tsutsui and Takafumi Kita. Abstract: canonical reduced density matrices versus grand-canonical Wick factorization; 2016
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