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Fock

This document introduces Fock spaces, which are used in many-particle quantum mechanics. Fock spaces are constructed by taking the direct sum of symmetric and antisymmetric Hilbert spaces for different numbers of particles. These symmetric and antisymmetric spaces span the total Fock space and are important because physical states must be symmetric or antisymmetric. Creation and annihilation operators are also defined, which add or remove a particle from a many-particle state.

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Leonardo Ferro
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60 views2 pages

Fock

This document introduces Fock spaces, which are used in many-particle quantum mechanics. Fock spaces are constructed by taking the direct sum of symmetric and antisymmetric Hilbert spaces for different numbers of particles. These symmetric and antisymmetric spaces span the total Fock space and are important because physical states must be symmetric or antisymmetric. Creation and annihilation operators are also defined, which add or remove a particle from a many-particle state.

Uploaded by

Leonardo Ferro
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Fock Spaces

Leonardo Ferro
January 6, 2010

Abstract
In this short paper we introduce the mathematical formalism for the
treatment of Fock spaces, as encountered in physics in dealing with many-
particle quantum mechanics, point out some properties, and briefly intro-
duce the creation and annihilation operators. It is not intended to give
a self-contained explaination of many-particle quantum mechanics, for
which we remind the reader to F.Schwabl, Advanced Quantum Mechanics
(2nd ed. 2004 Springer-Verlag Berling Heidelberg).

1 Fock spaces
Let us consider a finite dimensional Hilbert space1 H for the single particle such
that dim H = m and with basis states {|1i, |2i, . . . , |mi}. The space of the N-
ON
particle system is HN = H(i) where the index i denotes the particles and H0
i=1
is the one-dimensional space containing only the vacuum state with no particles.
Clearly dim HN = mN and a generic state of N-particle can be written as
m
X m
X
|ψi = ... c1,2,...,N |i1 , . . . , iN i (1)
i1 =1 iN =1

We define now two operators S± : HN → HN


1 X
S± = (±)p P (2)
N!
P ∈SN

where SN is the permutation group of N objects and p = 1 for even permutations


and −1 for odd ones. S± , when applied to a N-particle state, enables us to obtain
totally symmetric (+) and antsymmetric (-) states:

P (S+ |ψi) = |ψi


(3)
P (S− |ψi) = (−1)p |ψi ∀P ∈ SN .

These are extremely important, since they are the physical states realized in
nature.
1 Actually, quantum mechanics is restricted to the quotient space H/ ∼ which is not a

Hilbert space, where ∼ stands for the equivalent relation |ψi ∼ |φi if and only if |ψi = c|φi
where c is a non null complex number.

1
 
m+N −1
There are independent totally symmetric N-particle states and
  N
m
antisymmetric ones. These states span two subsets of HN which we will
N
ON
call ΩN
+ and Ω N
− respectively 2
and formally write them as Ω N
± = S ± H(i) .
    i=1
N m+N −1 N m
Clearly, dim Ω+ = and dim Ω− = .
N N
We are now in position to define the N-particle Fock spaces as
N
M r
O N
M
±
FN = S± H(i) = Ωr± (4)
r=0 i=1 r=0

where in this notation for r = 0 we indicate the vacuum space. Then the Fock
space is the direct sum of symmetric (antisymmetric) sets with no particles, one
particle, two particles, etc.

2 Creation and annihilation operators


We define creation and annihilation operators, which lead from the space of
N-particle states to the spaces of N ± 1-particle states (or viceversa in the dual
spaces) whose action is that of adding or removing a particle in the state |ii:

a†i : ΩN N +1
± → Ω±
(5)
Ω∗N
±
+1
→ Ω∗N
±

and
N −1
ai : ΩN
± → Ω±
∗N −1
(6)
Ω± → Ω∗N
±
N
O
where Ω∗N
± = S± H∗(i) and H∗ is the dual of H, namely the space of bras.
i=1

References
[1] F.Schwabl Advanced Quantum Mechanics, (2nd ed. 2004 Springer-Verlag
Berling Heidelberg)

2 they are simply subset of H


N and not vectorial subspaces as many books call them since
there is not the null element, but they are invariant subsets under the action of the permutation
group, so they can serve as basis for a representation of the permutation group even if formally
a representation needs a vector space.

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