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Functional integral mean field expansions for nuclear many fermion systems

Journal Article · · Ann. Phys. (N.Y.); (United States)

We present a careful analysis of the auxiliary field functional integral formalism for many fermion systems. We examine the limiting procedure used in construction of such integrals and show that a wide flexibility exists with respect to the choice of the one-body field representation upon which mean fiele expansions are made. We demonstrate the utility of this flexibility in the context of the evaluation of the grand canonical partition function. We examaine the zero order, RPA and certain higher-order terms. The above-mentioned flexibility is reflected in the dependence of the results on a trial two-body interaction, different choice of which produce Hartree, Fock, Hartree-Fock or other forms of the mean field expansions. A standard variational procedure selects the Hartree-Fock as the optimal choice. With this choice we find certain corrections to previously reported RPA contributions for the Hartree mean field. We also indicate the relevance of our formulation for the recent applications of the functional integral approach to nuclear dynamical problems.

Research Organization:
Center for Theoretical Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
OSTI ID:
5593145
Journal Information:
Ann. Phys. (N.Y.); (United States), Journal Name: Ann. Phys. (N.Y.); (United States) Vol. 148:2; ISSN APNYA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English