Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-theoretical-physics-major-option-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2022/2/b/solution
Past exam of the theoretical physics major option course of the University of Oxford 2022 2 b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
The Holstein–Primakoff transformation maps the finite spin basis to bosonic Fock states with . Thus is the fully polarized reference state, and creating a boson lowers by one. The physical subspace has the Holstein–Primakoff occupation constraint , not the whole infinite oscillator Hilbert space.
The specified ordering of the square root givesThese are the exact spin ladder operator matrix elements; in particular, the lowering amplitude vanishes at . The underlying oscillator obeys its usual canonical commutation relation on the enlarged space, while the spin operators preserve the constrained physical subspace. Projecting the oscillator operators themselves to a finite space would change their commutator at its upper endpoint.
Expanding converts an ordered spin problem to approximately free magnons, with interactions in higher orders of . Two complications are the nonpolynomial, order-sensitive square roots, which generate interacting bosons, and loss of the occupation bound when a truncated expansion uses the full bosonic Fock space. Large depletion, high temperature, or soft modes near a phase transition can invalidate the assumption even when is large.
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