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Second quantization is a formalism used to describe and analyze quantum many-body systems. It is also known as canonical quantization in quantum field theory, in which the fields (typically as the wave functions of matter) are thought of as field operators, in a manner similar to how the physical quantities (position, momentum, etc.) are thought of as operators in first quantization. The key ideas of this method were introduced in 1927 by Dirac, and were developed, most notably, by Fock and Jordan later.
Contents
- Quantum many body states
- First quantized many body wave function
- Second quantized Fock states
- Creation and annihilation operators
- Insertion and deletion operation
- Boson creation and annihilation operators
- Definition
- Action on Fock states
- Operator identities
- Fermion creation and annihilation operators
- Quantum field operators
- Comment on nomenclature
- References
In this approach, the quantum many-body states are represented in the Fock state basis, which are constructed by filling up each single-particle state with a certain number of identical particles. The second quantization formalism introduces the creation and annihilation operators to construct and handle the Fock states, providing useful tools to the study of the quantum many-body theory.
Quantum many-body states
The starting point of the second quantization formalism is the notion of indistinguishability of particles in quantum mechanics. Unlike in classical mechanics, where each particle is labeled by a distinct position vector
This exchange symmetry property imposes a constraint on the many-body wave function. Each time a particle is added or removed from the many-body system, the wave function must be properly symmetrized or anti-symmetrized to satisfy the symmetry constraint. In the first quantization formalism, this constraint is guaranteed by representing the wave function as linear combination of permanents (for bosons) or determinants (for fermions) of single-particle states. In the second quantization formalism, the issue of symmetrization is automatically taken care of by the creation and annihilation operators, such that its notation can be much simpler.
First-quantized many-body wave function
Consider a complete set of single-particle wave functions
represents an N-particle state with the ith particle occupying the single-particle state
For bosons, the many-body wave function must be symmetrized,
while for fermions, the many-body wave function must be anti-symmetrized,
Here
If one arranges the single-particle wave functions in a matrix
Second-quantized Fock states
First quantized wave functions involve complicated symmetrization procedures to describe physically realizable many-body states because the language of first quantization is redundant for indistinguishable particles. In the first quantization language, the many-body state is described by answering a series of questions like "which particle is on which state". However these are not physical questions, because the particles are identical, and it is impossible to tell which particle is which in the first place. The seemingly different states
In the second quantization language, instead of asking "each particle on which state", one asks "how many particles are there on each state". Because this description does not refer to the labeling of particles, it contains no redundant information, and hence leads to a precise and simpler description of the quantum many-body state. In this approach, the many-body state is represented in the occupation number basis, and the basis state is labeled by the set of occupation numbers, denoted
meaning that there are
The occupation number states
Note that besides providing a more efficient language, Fock space allows for a variable number of particles. As a Hilbert space, it is isomorphic to the sum of the n-particle bosonic or fermionic tensor spaces described in the previous section, including a one-dimensional zero-particle space ℂ.
The Fock state with all occupation numbers equal to zero is called the vacuum state, denoted
for bosons and
for fermions. Note that for fermions,
Creation and annihilation operators
The creation and annihilation operators are introduced to add or remove a particle from the many-body system. These operators lie at the core of the second quantization formalism, bridging the gap between the first- and the second-quantized states. Applying the creation (annihilation) operator to a first-quantized many-body wave function will insert (delete) a single-particle state from the wave function in a symmetrized way depending on the particle statistics. On the other hand, all the second-quantized Fock states can be constructed by applying the creation operators to the vacuum state repeatedly.
The creation and annihilation operators (for bosons) are originally constructed in the context of the quantum harmonic oscillator as the raising and lowering operators, which are then generalized to the field operators in the quantum field theory. They are fundamental to the quantum many-body theory, in the sense that every many-body operator (including the Hamiltonian of the many-body system and all the physical observables) can be expressed in terms of them.
Insertion and deletion operation
The creation and annihilation of a particle is implemented by the insertion and deletion of the single-particle state from the first quantized wave function in an either symmetric or anti-symmetric manner. Let
Here
Boson creation and annihilation operators
The boson creation (resp. annihilation) operator is usually denoted as
Definition
The boson creation (annihilation) operator is a linear operator, whose action on a N-particle first-quantized wave function
where
Action on Fock states
Starting from the single-mode vacuum state
The creation operator raises the boson occupation number by 1. Therefore, all the occupation number states can be constructed by the boson creation operator from the vacuum state
On the other hand, the annihilation operator
It will also quench the vacuum state
meaning that
The above result can be generalized to any Fock state of bosons.
These two equations can be considered as the defining properties of boson creation and annihilation operators in the second-quantization formalism. The complicated symmetrization of the underlying first-quantized wave function is automatically taken care of by the creation and annihilation operators (when acting on the first-quantized wave function), so that the complexity is not revealed on the second-quantized level, and the second-quantization formulae are simple and neat.
Operator identities
The following operator identities follow from the action of the boson creation and annihilation operators on the Fock state,
These commutation relations can be considered as the algebraic definition of the boson creation and annihilation operators. The fact that the boson many-body wave function is symmetric under particle exchange is also manifested by the commutation of the boson operators.
The raising and lowering operators of the quantum harmonic oscillator also satisfies the same set of commutation relations, implying that the bosons can be interpreted as the energy quanta (phonons) of an oscillator. This is indeed the idea of quantum field theory, which considers each mode of the matter field as an oscillator subject to quantum fluctuations, and the bosons are treated as the excitations (or energy quanta) of the field.
Fermion creation and annihilation operators
The fermion creation (annihilation) operator is usually denoted as
are called Majorana fermion operators.
Definition
The fermion creation (annihilation) operator is a linear operator, whose action on a N-particle first-quantized wave function
where
Action on Fock states
Starting from the single-mode vacuum state
If the single-particle state
The vacuum state is quenched by the action of the annihilation operator.
Similar to the boson case, the fermion Fock state can be constructed from the vacuum state using the fermion creation operator
It is easy to check (by enumeration) that
meaning that
The above result can be generalized to any Fock state of fermions.
Recall that the occupation number
Operator identities
The following operator identities follow from the action of the fermion creation and annihilation operators on the Fock state,
These anti-commutation relations can be considered as the algebraic definition of the fermion creation and annihilation operators. The fact that the fermion many-body wave function is anti-symmetric under particle exchange is also manifested by the anti-commutation of the fermion operators.
Quantum field operators
Defining
These are second quantization operators, with coefficients
Since
In homogeneous systems it is often desirable to transform between real space and the momentum representations, hence, the quantum fields operators in Fourier basis yields:
Comment on nomenclature
The term "second quantization" is a misnomer that has persisted for historical reasons. One is not quantizing "again", as the term "second" might suggest; the field that is being quantized is not a Schrödinger wave function that was produced as the result of quantizing a particle, but is a classical field (such as the electromagnetic field or Dirac spinor field) that was not previously quantized. One is merely shifting from a semiclassical treatment of the system to a fully quantum-mechanical one.