In the Bogoliubov quasiparticle vacuum, , but the inverse Bogoliubov transformation gives . Consequently the quantum depletion of a Bose condensate is
This expression assumes zero temperature. At nonzero temperature, thermal Bogoliubov quasiparticles add to the depletion:
Thus the printed formula is the quantum contribution, or a low-temperature approximation when the thermal contribution is negligible. It is nonnegative for a stable quadratic Hamiltonian and vanishes in the noninteracting zero-temperature limit.
For , divide elapsed time into slices and apply the Trotter product formula. Inserting complete position and momentum bases gives the regulated phase-space path integral
The endpoint values are , . Each Gaussian momentum integration in a phase-space path integral can be performed explicitly, leaving the configuration-space path integral
Its measure is the time-sliced limit of , with the usual infinitesimal convergence prescription. The integral sums amplitudes, not positive classical probabilities. Operator ordering remains part of the time-slice definition. Expanding a short-time kernel recovers the Schrödinger equation; composing kernels reproduces the time-evolution operator.
In the classical limit, rapid phase cancellation suppresses paths away from stationary action. Varying with fixed endpoints gives . The semiclassical result sums the classical-path phases multiplied by fluctuation functional determinants; for a quadratic Hamiltonian the fluctuation integral is Gaussian and this expansion is exact.
For quantum statistical mechanics, continue by a Wick rotation. The Euclidean action and thermal trace give
The trace closes position-space paths. In a many-particle trace one also sums over endpoint permutations with the appropriate exchange signs. In a coherent state field formulation, bosonic fields are periodic and fermionic coherent states instead give antiperiodic Grassmann fields, hence bosonic and fermionic Matsubara frequencies and . [ref]
The quantum-to-classical imaginary-time mapping views a local -dimensional quantum problem as a classical-looking field theory in dimensions, with imaginary-time extent . A genuine classical probability interpretation additionally requires a nonnegative weight; fermion signs and Berry terms can obstruct it.
For a smooth potential in the high-temperature or small- limit, imaginary-time paths fluctuate only over the thermal de Broglie wavelength . If this is short compared with the potential's variation scale, the diagonal free kernel gives
This classical phase-space limit of the thermal kernel is the classical phase space partition function for one degree of freedom. A dilute identical-particle gas also needs its factor; when exchange is appreciable, classical statistics fails. As a check, a single quantum harmonic oscillator gives , precisely the classical phase-space integral.
The spin commutation relations give . Using the product rule for a commutator,
and the conjugate term also vanishes. The longitudinal field commutes with every , so . The Hamiltonian is invariant under the global spin rotation : its continuous symmetry group is . Simultaneous energy and total-magnetization eigenstates can be chosen, and evolution preserves each fixed-magnetization sector. Local magnetization can still flow between sites; generally . In the fermion representation the conserved number will be .
For a bulk bond, and . Reordering the remaining different-site operators then gives
The periodic spin boundary condition requires separate attention. Set . The end bond becomes , with the conjugate relation for its adjoint. Consequently the exact finite-ring Hamiltonian is
fermion parity is conserved, so diagonalize in a sector . There the end bond can be written like every other bond provided . This parity-dependent boundary condition of the Jordan-Wigner chain is antiperiodic for even fermion number and periodic for odd fermion number. Simply assuming periodic fermions in both sectors changes the finite-size spectrum.
The Holstein–Primakoff transformation converts a spin algebra into bosonic operators while retaining the finite physical spin Hilbert space. With , write
The Holstein–Primakoff occupation constraint is . Acting on , the raising matrix element is and the lowering element is . Their squared difference is , reproducing . Operator ordering inside the square roots is essential. For low boson occupation relative to , expand them to obtain and . Keeping quadratic terms gives the linear spin-wave approximation; higher terms describe magnon interactions. Large helps control the expansion, but a low-dimensional infrared divergence can invalidate it even at large finite .
For the ferromagnet choose , , with unit lattice spacing and . Expand around the all-up state. A longitudinal bond contributes , and the transverse exchange contributes . After a Fourier transform,
These are ferromagnetic magnons. The polarized vacuum is an exact ground state of the full ferromagnetic Hamiltonian: every bond is in its maximum total-spin sector, minimizing that bond energy. It therefore has no quantum zero-point reduction of its magnetization. The one-magnon dispersion is also exact, although interacting many-magnon states need not be free bosons. Rotating the polarization generates the maximum-total-spin ground-state multiplet. Selecting a definite direction in a thermodynamic symmetry-breaking description breaks to ; the two transverse spin components form a canonical pair, producing a single quadratic type-B Goldstone boson. A small aligning field gaps it by the Zeeman energy.
At nonzero temperature the one-dimensional ferromagnet is different: its thermal magnon number contains , with infrared behaviour . The divergent magnetization reduction signals the absence of finite-temperature long-range order in an infinite short-range isotropic chain, consistent with the Mermin-Wagner theorem. It does not disallow the polarized zero-temperature ground states just constructed.[ref]
For the antiferromagnet use , still , on an even bipartite chain. The classical reference state alternates up and down. Rotate one sublattice through so that both local quantization axes point along their reference spins. In unrotated physical components, to leading order , , and . Choosing Fourier phases using the actual site positions gives
The reduced Brillouin zone has momenta and length . The pair creation and annihilation terms express the fact that an antiparallel reference product state is not an eigenstate. A bosonic Bogoliubov transformation with , , diagonalizes each two-mode block. With the sign convention and , the result is
Thus the harmonic antiferromagnetic modes have linear, rather than quadratic, long-wave dispersion. In an unfolded Brillouin-zone description the same result is represented by zeros at both zero and the antiferromagnetic wavevector; these are not extra independent degrees of freedom beyond the two-sublattice accounting.
The Bogoliubov vacuum has no or excitations but contains original spin bosons, with . Its staggered magnetization is . This quantum depletion of Néel order diverges logarithmically at small in one dimension. Linear spin-wave theory therefore does not establish a stable ordered antiferromagnetic ground state for this chain. Its nominal gapless dispersion is a result of expanding around an invalid ordered reference, not a general proof of the exact excitation spectrum. For the nearest-neighbour isotropic chain, integer-spin systems have a Haldane gap, whereas half-integer-spin systems are gapless; the spin-one-half chain in particular has fractional spin excitations rather than a simple dilute gas of ordered-state magnons. This distinction requires physics beyond the harmonic expansion, including the topological term in the continuum theory.[ref]
Figure 1.
Original harmonic chain dispersions; the antiferromagnetic curve is a spin-wave approximation, not the exact spectrum for every spin
. Details.
For one coordinate with Hamiltonian , the propagator is , where . Divide into intervals , use the Trotter product formula to separate kinetic and potential evolution, and insert complete position and momentum bases at each slice. The momentum integral is Gaussian:
Multiplying the short-time kernels gives the time-sliced configuration-space path integral,
with , . Continuum notation abbreviates this limit as , where . The measure includes the displayed normalization; it is not an unweighted count of paths. A small damping or analytic-continuation prescription defines the oscillatory integrals. The paths contribute complex amplitudes, so alternative histories interfere before probabilities are calculated. This is the central difference from a classical statistical mixture of trajectories.[ref]
When actions vary rapidly relative to , stationary phase selects classical paths. Put , with zero at the endpoints. Vanishing first variation gives . The quadratic term is
The resulting Gaussian fluctuation determinant is the semiclassical propagator prefactor. In one dimension, away from caustics,
The branch convention makes for a direct free-particle path before any caustic. The Maslov index tracks the phase changes as fluctuations pass through a focal singularity. In several dimensions replace the endpoint derivative by the Van Vleck determinant. The approximation sums all relevant classical paths; real-time action need only be stationary, not a minimum. It fails in this simple form at a caustic or coalescing saddles, where a uniform approximation is needed. Quadratic actions have no higher fluctuation terms, making their Gaussian evaluation exact. For example gives the exact free-particle kernel . Tunnelling involves classically forbidden regions and can be described by imaginary-time saddles rather than real classical trajectories.
Quantum statistical mechanics follows by Wick rotation . The imaginary-time evolution operator is , with Euclidean action
Taking a thermal trace identifies and integrates the endpoint positions:
This thermal trace as a closed Euclidean path integral explains the periodic imaginary-time direction. A density-matrix element instead retains open endpoints. For many identical particles the trace also sums over endpoint permutations, with a plus sign for bosons and permutation parity for fermions. In coherent-state language this becomes periodic bosonic fields and antiperiodic Grassmann fields, with corresponding Matsubara frequencies.
The Euclidean weight resembles a classical Boltzmann weight. A time-sliced local quantum field in spatial dimensions becomes a classical-looking field model in dimensions, with anisotropic couplings and extra extent . Thus zero-temperature quantum criticality can be treated using an infinitely extended imaginary-time direction, while nonzero temperature imposes a finite thickness. The dynamical scaling of time need not equal the spatial scaling: the dynamical critical exponent specifies their relationship. This quantum-to-classical imaginary-time mapping requires qualification when weights have signs or imaginary terms; such a functional integral is not automatically an ordinary positive classical probability distribution. Even with a positive weight, the mapping concerns equilibrium statistics, not literal dissipative real-time trajectories. For a free particle the Euclidean kernel is a diffusion kernel with diffusion coefficient , illustrating the mathematical correspondence.
The classical high-temperature limit is a further approximation, rather than simply another name for imaginary time. If quantum level spacings and exchange effects are negligible, a one-particle partition function in dimensions becomes
For indistinguishable particles there is a factor in the dilute classical gas, and exchange is negligible when the number density times the thermal de Broglie wavelength to power is small. For a harmonic oscillator, the exact quantum result tends to as , recovering the classical phase-space integral. stationary phase explains classical mechanics; the short imaginary-time, weak-exchange limit explains classical statistical mechanics. These are related but distinct limits of the same quantum formulation.
For a normal-ordered bosonic Hamiltonian, insert coherent-state resolutions between short imaginary-time evolution factors. The overlaps generate and the Hamiltonian symbol is obtained by replacing creation and annihilation operators by and . Including the chemical potential gives, in the stated convention,
The trace imposes periodic imaginary-time boundary conditions,
so bosonic Matsubara frequencies are . The two complex coherent-state integration variables are treated independently before imposing the physical saddle contour. There is no extra zero-point ordering term: the supplied interaction is already normal ordered.
The spatial confinement is not specified beyond the volume. The uniform bulk results below use a homogeneous box with periodic spatial boundaries, or the interior of a large vessel where boundary effects can be neglected. A hard wall instead requires a vanishing field at that wall and an inhomogeneous saddle near it. Temporal periodicity follows from the thermal trace and does not by itself impose periodic spatial boundaries.
For occupations small compared with , use , and . The longitudinal bond contributes ; the transverse pair terms contribute . Thus the direct real-space expansion is
Take , with over one full Brillouin zone and the lattice spacing set to one in . Symmetrizing and changes the phase in the pair sum to , giving
normal ordering the second Nambu spinor component then yields
The printed matrix has a factor-of-two error on its diagonal. With a full-zone sum its printed would produce , and even its vacuum expectation would differ from the direct expansion by . A half-zone convention cannot repair both coefficients: one must then group each pair and double its off-diagonal pair coefficient as well. The formula above follows from the specified Hamiltonian and has the expected gapless isotropic limit; subsequent physical results use this consistent expansion. Terms quartic in bosons first enter at order .
For the easy-axis XXZ antiferromagnetic spin-wave spectrum, the consistent quadratic Hamiltonian in part (d) has and . The inverse transformation acts on the Nambu matrix by a congruence. Its diagonal and off-diagonal entries become and . The pair term vanishes when
For the transformation is real and finite for every . Summing the two Nambu number operators over the full zone gives
Here names the constant in the requested oscillator form; the actual quadratic ground-state energy is . This distinguishes the normal-ordering constant from the total zero-point contribution. bosonic Bogoliubov diagonalization is a canonical, not an ordinary unitary, diagonalization of the Nambu matrix.
At and , the same formula holds with . The exact zero modes have , so no finite squeezing angle diagonalizes them as positive-frequency oscillators. Treat collective rotations separately or retain a small anisotropy regulator before taking the limit. Finally, if one instead diagonalizes the literal erroneous printed matrix, it gives and . That result remains gapped at and is not the spin-wave spectrum of the Hamiltonian stated at the start.
Take a uniform nearest-neighbour harmonic chain with displacement , conjugate momentum , mass , spring stiffness , lattice spacing and periodic length . These specify a standard model for the requested notes, not additional numerical exam data. Its Lagrangian and Hamiltonian are
Variation gives . For a mode , periodicity requires and
The lattice makes periodic modulo , so choose one Brillouin zone. At long wavelength , where is the sound speed. The continuum limit of a harmonic chain expands and replaces by . Defining mass density and one-dimensional elastic coefficient gives
The momentum density is , and the Hamiltonian density is . Translational invariance of makes total momentum conserved. The continuum approximation describes acoustic wavelengths large compared with ; it is not a justification for extending the lattice dispersion and zero-point sums to arbitrarily large wavevector.[ref]
canonical quantization promotes the coordinates and momenta to operators with and the other equal-time commutators zero. In the continuum, . The nonzero normal modes can be represented by independent phonon operators obeying . A useful lattice expansion is
where is the centre-of-mass displacement. The corresponding momentum is
Including the centre-of-mass term restores the full site commutator: the nonzero-mode sum alone gives . Substitution diagonalizes the Hamiltonian,
A phonon is one quantum of a collective normal mode, carrying energy and lattice momentum modulo a reciprocal-lattice vector. Reality of relates its Fourier coordinates by ; it does not remove the independent oppositely travelling phonon modes. Using one complete Brillouin zone avoids double-counting real standing-wave coordinates.[ref]
The free centre of mass has no restoring force and must not be treated as an oscillator of zero frequency. Fixing it, weakly pinning it, or specifying a finite centre-of-mass volume defines the corresponding zero-mode factor. With a fixed centre of mass, the internal thermal partition function and occupations are
The internal energy is ; its high-temperature heat capacity approaches . For a large one-dimensional chain at temperatures below the lattice cutoff but above its finite-size mode spacing,
This one-dimensional acoustic phonon heat capacity shows that quantization turns classical normal waves into bosonic excitations with a linear low-temperature heat capacity in one dimension. The Euclidean field action is Gaussian, with periodic imaginary-time boundary conditions; its Fourier modes reproduce these oscillators. Absolute displacement correlations require the zero-mode convention, and the lattice regulates short-distance fluctuations.
For one bosonic mode, define the unnormalized bosonic coherent state . The commutator gives and . The normalized state is ; it is not orthogonal to a different coherent state. The coherent-state resolution of identity follows from Gaussian moments,
For many modes take products of these states and measures. The complex amplitudes have the natural scale of square root occupation; coherent states turn normal-ordered matrix elements into classical symbols without replacing the quantum trace by a single classical configuration.
For fermions, and a nilpotent annihilation operator cannot have an arbitrary nonzero ordinary complex eigenvalue. Introduce independent Grassmann variables , anticommuting among themselves and with the fermionic operators, and define . Then and . With an ordered Berezin integral measure satisfying for one pair,
for an even operator ; this is the fermionic coherent-state trace. In one mode the trace integrand is , whose integral is . Without the sign reversal it would be the supertrace, not the thermal trace. These formal Grassmann-valued coherent states do not represent ordinary complex-valued fermion amplitudes.
To construct the many-body thermal path integral, write with and divide the imaginary-time interval into slices of width . Insert the appropriate coherent-state resolution of identity between factors. For a normal-ordered Hamiltonian, the adjacent-slice kernel is
coherent-state time slicing makes the overlap and Gaussian measure combine into the first-order time derivative. The grand-canonical coherent-state action in the regulated continuum limit is
For bosons the integration variables are complex, with the conjugate labels on the original integration contour; for fermions the barred and unbarred Grassmann variables are independent. The continuum notation retains the time-sliced ordering prescription. For example, has normal symbol , whereas has that symbol plus . Dropping that distinction changes a theory. The coherent-state thermal boundary conditions follow because the bosonic trace closes paths periodically and the fermionic sign in the trace closes them antiperiodically:
The barred fields obey the same respective boundary conditions. Hence Matsubara frequencies are and . The derivative term encodes the canonical structure; omitting it would remove the quantum dynamics.[ref]
As a check, a free diagonal mode with gives for , whereas gives . Gaussian integration produces an inverse determinant for bosons and a determinant for independent complex fermions, with their respective temporal boundary conditions. Differentiating recovers Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac occupations. Interactions become higher powers in the normal-ordered symbols, and sources generate time-ordered correlations. The coherent-state construction preserves statistics, ordering and boundary conditions together; a formal continuum expression without its measure and temporal prescription is incomplete.
Keep the electromagnetic units of the supplied Lagrangian, including its factor , and regard as the signed coupling used there. Set . The canonical momentum is , so the Legendre transform gives
Single-valued periodic wavefunctions have normalized eigenstates with integer . Defining dimensionless flux gives , and the trace is therefore
The flux-threaded quantum rotor spectrum is periodic under after relabelling , corresponding to flux period in these units. A local gauge change can remove the magnetic vector potential from the differential operator but then imposes a twisted boundary condition with phase ; it cannot remove the flux dependence from both the Hamiltonian and boundary condition simultaneously. In SI conventions the flux coupling has no , so one must not mix the two unit systems.
The normal ordering of both linear maps puts every annihilation operator to the right, so
In particular the stated Hamiltonian has already subtracted the free vacuum energy. For a one-particle state, evaluate the commutators using :
Acting on the Fock vacuum therefore gives
The extra factor in the chosen relativistic normalization of a one-particle state is a scalar multiplier and does not change either eigenvalue. Applying the same argument to a multiparticle quantum state gives additive total energy and momentum.
Let . The conjugate momentum fields are and . Inserting the given mode expansion of a free field into produces spatial Dirac delta factors. The and terms vanish after integration: they contain on , and . The number-conserving terms instead add their two frequency factors, cancelling the mode normalization. The un-subtracted ordered expression is
The last term is an infinite vacuum constant, not a finite physical vacuum charge. Choosing the Fock vacuum to have zero Noether charge, equivalently using normal ordering, gives
A state containing quanta created by and by has Noether charge . Thus the two families describe opposite unit Noether charges; with this source's current the quantum has positive Noether charge and the quantum negative Noether charge. This is an internal Noether charge; identifying it with electric charge requires a specified electromagnetic coupling. The vacuum subtraction of a complex scalar charge leaves all commutators unchanged.[ref]
Scope of the expansion: a fixed-frequency expansion with time-independent oscillator coefficients is the free-field or asymptotic-field form. For arbitrary interacting , it can be used as canonical oscillator coordinates at a chosen time, rather than as the exact interacting time dependence. For example, gives , which a generic free plane-wave superposition does not satisfy. The Noether charge and its generator action remain valid in the interacting theory; the symmetry does not depend on using a free Hamiltonian.
A real scalar field suffices to describe one neutral species of bosonic quasiparticle. Let be its canonical momentum. In three spatial dimensions, choose the positive classical Hamiltonian
The same construction works in any number of spatial dimensions by replacing appropriately. Under a spatial Fourier transform, becomes , so the Hamiltonian is a collection of independent quantum harmonic oscillators with squared angular frequency . The usual reality condition pairs opposite momenta; it does not introduce a second species.
The canonical action is . Varying gives ; eliminating it by the Legendre transform gives
This Lagrangian density is local: only the field and finitely many derivatives at the same point occur. It contains second spatial derivatives but only first time derivatives, so no extra canonical time data are needed. A square root of a differential operator in the classical Hamiltonian is unnecessary. The fourth-order spatial term breaks Lorentz invariance while preserving spatial rotations and translations. This is a free scalar field with quartic spatial dispersion.
For a Lagrangian density depending on , , and , direct variation gives
Take to have compact support, so every boundary term vanishes. One integration by parts for the first-derivative terms and two for the second-derivative term yield the Euler-Lagrange field equation with second derivatives
The plus sign on the last term is essential. For the action in a, it is particularly transparent to vary the Laplacian directly:
Thus the classical equation of motion is
Here is the biharmonic operator. Substitution of the plane wave gives
A real classical solution combines complex-conjugate plane waves. Quantization assigns the positive branch to the excitation energy, giving the required dispersion relation. The negative-frequency branch supplies the creation operator part of the field, rather than negative excitation energy. Independently, the Hamiltonian in a gives , , confirming the same sign.
Define and . The Hermitian quantum field has the mode expansion of a free field
where the annihilation operators and creation operators obey the bosonic canonical commutation relations
Because , its mode expansion of a free field is
The two nonzero cross commutators then give
and the equal-time field-field and momentum-momentum commutators vanish. This verifies the factor without requiring Lorentz invariance.
Substitution into the Hamiltonian, followed by normal ordering, yields
Consequently : one application of a creation operator adds precisely the required quasiparticle energy. Before normal ordering there is the usual constant zero-point vacuum energy. If , the exactly zero-momentum mode has and is a free canonical coordinate, not an oscillator with a normalizable oscillator vacuum state; in a finite box handle that mode separately or introduce a small positive mass. The formula applies directly to all modes with .
Use the combinations at each momentum. Part a gives , , while their creation operators obey , . Applying b gives
The creation operators transform by the Hermitian adjoint formulas with . At , both exponentials are , so
Substituting into the fixed-time mode expansion of a free field of the complex scalar field gives
Thus exchanges particles and antiparticles, as required for charge conjugation. To see the charge reversal explicitly, the conserved charge obeys . The generator in the question is distinct from this charge.
The two occupation terms in the Hamiltonian are exchanged, with the same relativistic energy , and therefore
In fact because its mixing terms exchange equal-energy modes. With normal ordering, for . Then fixes the vacuum state and satisfies . The construction is a bosonic species-swap generator.
Read the unsuperscripted in the printed Hamiltonian as : the repeated spin label is otherwise missing. Relabel in its antiparticle term, and insert both projections from c. Keeping the original operator ordering gives
The difference of the two orthogonal projectors in a is , explaining the cancellation of the factors . Under inverse Fourier transformation, becomes acting on . Hence
Spatial indices run from to . This is the local Hamiltonian density of the free Dirac field. It also follows from with .
The original antiparticle term is , so the result retains its infinite additive vacuum energy. If the Hamiltonian is normal-ordered, its occupation-number expression becomes and its local expression is , with the same subtraction. The displayed unsymmetrized Hamiltonian density is Hermitian after spatial integration under vanishing boundary terms; a manifestly Hermitian local form replaces the derivative term by and differs by a spatial divergence.
Write . The canonical commutation relations and the product rule for a commutator give
The other-species terms vanish. Integrating the Dirac delta distributions in the Hamiltonian therefore gives
where . Consequently the complex scalar field satisfies
Direct differentiation of the time factors gives the same expression, proving the Heisenberg equation of motion