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Canonical Transformations in QFT

Canonical transformations in quantum field theory (QFT) can lead to different vacuum states from the original representation. Unlike in classical mechanics where the choice of coordinates does not affect physics, in QFT with infinite degrees of freedom the choice of representation can have physical meaning. An example is the boson translation, where the generator of transformation can be found and the new vacuum state contains particles with respect to the original representation. The Bogoliubov transformation, which preserves commutation relations, is another important canonical transformation used to diagonalize Hamiltonians like in the BCS model of superconductivity.

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Atharva Vibhute
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47 views19 pages

Canonical Transformations in QFT

Canonical transformations in quantum field theory (QFT) can lead to different vacuum states from the original representation. Unlike in classical mechanics where the choice of coordinates does not affect physics, in QFT with infinite degrees of freedom the choice of representation can have physical meaning. An example is the boson translation, where the generator of transformation can be found and the new vacuum state contains particles with respect to the original representation. The Bogoliubov transformation, which preserves commutation relations, is another important canonical transformation used to diagonalize Hamiltonians like in the BCS model of superconductivity.

Uploaded by

Atharva Vibhute
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Canonical Transformations in QFT

Atharva Vibhute
SC18B141
Canonical Transformation in Classial Mechanics

The Hamiltonian equations

Canonical Transformation : -
Condition for invarience of
hamiltonian equations
→
The Hamiltonian equations

Poison brackets are invarient under canonical transformations. Also invarience of Poison brackets
shows that the corresponding transformation is cononical.

Classical to Quantum
Canonical Tranformation in QFT
• For systems with finite degree of freedom the choice of
coordinates is a matter of convinence and does not have
any effect on the physics.

• QFT on the other hand deals with infinite degrees of


freedom.

• In this case the choice of representation can have


physical meaning as will be shown in following slides.
Boson Translation

• Consider a system with a+ and a as creation and


anihilation operator and as Fock space built on ,the
vaccume state.

• The transform:

• The commutator is preserved , hence it is a canonical


transformation
The original vacuum state is no longer a
vaccume state

The generator of transformation


an be found out

We define a new vacuum state


with

No. of particles in new vaccume with


respect to original representation is not
zero.
Boson Translation : infinite degree of freedom
• The system has infinitely many degrees of freedom,
labelled by k (vector).
• The transformation :

• Generator :

• new vacuum
state :
Overlap of the vacuum states :

• If then . This is possible when


..

• Implies that the vaccume levels are orthogonal.

• Total no of particles is equal to .


Bogoliubov Transformation
• Consider a system in which two different modes a and b
are involved.

• The transformation :

• The commutator is preserved , hence it is a canonical


transformation.
• Generator :

• The vaccume state :

• Since , cannot be expressed in


terms of vectors from .

• Hence and are orthogonal.


Example : Superconductivity - BCS model
• We consider the following Hamiltonian :

• The 1st term is related to energy associated with each


electron.

• 2nd term is the energy associated with change of


momentum of the cooper pairs.
• Mean field approximation :

• Define :

• We use Bogoliubov transformation :


• Substituting in the hamiltonian we get :
• We have 3 types of terms in the hamiltonian
1. No annihilation creator operators
2. Diagonal terms in k .
3. Off diagonal terms.
• We want to diagonalise the hamiltonian.
• Hence we want H2 = 0.

• We use this to find uk and vk . We assume phase of uk to


be 0 without loss of generality.

• We also use .
• Using we get :

• Substituting in Hamiltonian we get :

• At Fermi level , but there still exists energy gap of


• Hence we need energy of 2 to excite particles
corresponding to .
• This transformation is mixture of electrons and holes,

• ck↓ corresponds to creating hole(destroying electron).


• c+k↓ corresponds to creating electron.
• When for and

• Thus, at the normal state, creating a excitation


corresponds to creating an electron for energies above
the Fermi level and creating a hole of opposite
momentum and spin for energies below the Fermi level.
• Ground state of BCS is the vacuum state of

• We write the ground state as arbitrary combination of


cooper states :
N is normalisation factor

• Using the commutation relations it can be shown that :


Conclusion
• Canonical transformations in QFT lead to different
vaccum states.
• It is possible that the transformation may result in a fock
space orthogonal to original space.
• The Bogoliubov transformation can be used to
diagonalise Hamiltonians in QFT to make problems
easier.
• Similar transformations are used in Thermo field
dynamics, Quantization of damped harmonic oscillator,
neutrino oscillations, etc.

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