Past exam of the theoretical physics II course of the University of Cambridge / 2017 / 1

In second quantization, expand the annihilating quantized field in a complete orthonormal basis of one-particle states, $\hat{\psi }(x)={\sum }_{\alpha }{\phi }_{\alpha }(x)a_{\alpha }$. At equal times, the canonical commutation relation for bosons and the canonical anticommutation relations for fermions are, respectively,andHere $\delta$ is a Dirac delta distribution. Multiplying by the basis wave functions and integrating gives $[a_{\alpha },a_{\beta }^{†}]={\delta }_{\alpha \beta }$ for bosons, or $\{a_{\alpha },a_{\beta }^{†}\}={\delta }_{\alpha \beta }$ for fermions; the two-annihilator and two-creator brackets vanish in the corresponding convention.

The mode number operator and total particle number operator areThe bosonic occupation numbers are $0,1,2,\dots$. For fermions, $a_{\alpha }^2=0$ and the canonical anticommutation relations imply $n_{\alpha }^2=n_{\alpha }$, so the fermionic occupation numbers are only $0$ and $1$, as required by the Pauli exclusion principle.

Keeping only two modes later is a projection: the projected field bracket is ${\sum }_{j=1}^2{\phi }_j(x){\phi }_j^{\ast }(x^{\prime })$, rather than the full Dirac delta distribution.

Normalize the ring modes as ${\phi }_j(x)=L^{-1/2}{e}^{i{k}_{j}x}$, with distinct $k_j=2\pi {\ell }_j/L$ and integers ${\ell }_j$. Inserting $\hat{\psi }(x)={\phi }_1(x)a_1+{\phi }_2(x)a_2$ into the contact interaction givesOrthogonality makes $I_{ijkl}=1/L$ when $k_i+k_j=k_k+k_l$, and zero otherwise: this is momentum conservation in the projected Hamiltonian operator. There is one all-mode-1 term, one all-mode-2 term, and four mixed terms with one particle in each mode. A pair conversion between distinct ring modes would require $2k_1=2k_2$ and therefore vanishes.

Using $a_j^{†2}{a}_j^2=n_j(n_j-1)$ and $a_1^{†}{a}_2^{†}{a}_1{a}_2=n_1{n}_2$ yields the contact interaction between two ring modes,The factor four comes from two independent choices of ordering for the creation operators and annihilation operators. This is the two-mode projected model; a full ring contact interaction can also scatter particles into other modes while conserving total momentum.

At fixed particle number $N$, write $n_1=n$ and $n_2=N-n$. The contact interaction between two ring modes has energy eigenvaluesFor $g>0$, the nonnegative product $n(N-n)$ is minimized at the endpoints. ConsequentlyFor $N\ge 1$ this is a two-dimensional degenerate ground state subspace. $N=0$ instead has the unique Fock vacuum. In this projected model, putting all particles into one traveling mode avoids the extra exchange contribution paid when both distinct modes are occupied.

For the alternative coefficients, put $\alpha =\beta =A<0$ and $\gamma =0$. Then $E(n)=A[N(N-1)-2n(N-n)]$ is again minimized at $n=0,N$, with $E_{\min }=AN(N-1)$. Evenness of $N$ is unnecessary for this result; the balanced Fock state maximizes this attractive-interaction energy instead of minimizing it.

Add the one-particle energy term $H_0={ϵ}_1{n}_1+{ϵ}_2{n}_2$. It is diagonal in the same Fock state basis as the contact interaction between two ring modes. For $N=2$, the ordered basis $(|2,0⟩,|1,1⟩,|0,2⟩)$ givesFor $g>0$, the middle eigenvalue exceeds the mean of the two endpoint eigenvalues by $g/L$, so it cannot be the smallest. The ground state is therefore $|2,0⟩$ if ${ϵ}_1<{ϵ}_2$, and $|0,2⟩$ if ${ϵ}_2<{ϵ}_1$, withIf ${ϵ}_1={ϵ}_2$, every normalized linear combination of the two endpoint Fock states is a ground state. The same endpoint argument works for general fixed $N$, since the interaction contribution is a concave quadratic function of the mode occupation number.

For distinct positive integers $p,q$, use normalized box modes ${\phi }_1=\sqrt{2/L}\sin (p\pi x/L)$ and ${\phi }_2=\sqrt{2/L}\sin (q\pi x/L)$. Their contact interaction overlaps obeyUnlike traveling ring modes, these standing modes also allow pair conversion. For the first two box modes, or any distinct pair without a third-harmonic resonance, the contact interaction between two box modes isThe last two terms change an individual mode occupation number by two while conserving total particle number. Thus the Hamiltonian operator is not diagonal in the Fock state basis, and minimizing diagonal entries alone does not find its ground state. For example, at $N=2$ with no dispersion, $\left(|2,0⟩-|0,2⟩\right)/\sqrt{2}$ has the lowest energy $g/(2L)$, below either unmixed endpoint's $3g/(2L)$.

The wording permits modes beyond the first two. For completeness, the identity ${\sin }^{3}u=(3\sin u-\sin 3u)/4$ givesWhen $q=3p$, add $-g(a_1^{†2}{a}_1{a}_2+a_1^{†}{a}_2^{†}{a}_1^2)/(2L)$; when $p=3q$, add $-g(a_1^{†}{a}_2^{†}{a}_2^2+a_2^{†2}{a}_1{a}_2)/(2L)$. These extra terms change an individual occupation number by one and require diagonalizing the corresponding fixed-$N$ matrix as well.