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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/25545
Description
Title
Variational theory of quantum fluids
Author(s)
Schmidt, Kevin Edward
Issue Date
1979
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Pandharipande, V.R.
Department of Study
Physics
Discipline
Physics
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
variational theory
quantum fluids
microscopic two-body potential
Landau's assumption
Language
en
Abstract
"A theory is developed to allow the systematic calculation of the properties of quantum fluids given the microscopic two-body potential. Physical arguments are used to construct a correlation operator that approximately transforms the states of a non-interacting system into the corresponding states of the interacting-system. The theory can be regarded as a microscopic realization of Landau's assumption of a one-to-one correspondence between the non-interacting and interacting states. It is variational since the correlation operator is determined by minimizing E(p) the expectation value of the ground-state energy.
We first give a survey of various other many-body theories including the simpler Jastrow variational method. Differential equations are derived to calculate the correlation operator and the related Jastrow correlation"" function. A comparison of results in several Bose systems with various methods is given.
The Fermi hypernetted chain integral equations are generalized to allow the calculation of E(p) in Fermi systems, using the correlation operator wave function. The method is applied to liquid 3He and the v2-model of nuclear matter. In 3He the correlation operator gives results in much closer agreement with experiment than that with the Jastrow wave function.
A new set of hypernetted chain equations are then derived to allow the calculation of the excited st;ate energies in Bose systems. The theory is then applied to the calculation of the single quasi-particle excitation spectrum of liquid 4He. The spectrum is found to be a stringent test on the form of the correlation operator, deficiencies in the correlation operator giving corresponding errors in the spectrum. Good results are obtained for the density dependence of the roton energy.
A variational principle for the free energy is used to generalize the correlation operator technique to finite temperatures. Results are given for the finite temperature properties of the v8-model of nuclear matter."
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