SECOND QUANTIZING OPERATORS - EXAMPLES

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Reference: Tom Lancaster and Stephen J. Blundell, Quantum Field The-
ory for the Gifted Amateur, (Oxford University Press, 2014), Section 4.2.
We’ve seen that we can second quantize a single-particle operator  us-
ing creation and annihilation operators to get the multi-particle version:

 = ∑ Aαβ a†α aβ (1)

α,β
Using this result, we can get second quantized versions of some common
operators. The unit operator is

1̂ = ∑ |γi hγ| (2)

γ

so
*   +

    
α 1̂ β = α ∑ |γi hγ| β (3)
 
γ 
= ∑ δαγ δγβ (4)
γ
= δαβ (5)

so the multi-particle version is

n̂ = ∑ a†α aα (6)
α
Since a†α aα is the number operator, it counts the number of particles in
state α so n̂ gives the total number of particles in the multi-particle state.
[I’m still not clear as to whether this result is supposed to apply to states
where there are more than one particle in a given momentum state. The
derivation of 1 appears to assume that each particle is in a different single-
particle state, so it seems safer to assume that a†α aα can return only 0 or
1.]
For the momentum operator (we’re still looking at the particle in a box,
so momentum states are still discrete) we have
1
 SECOND QUANTIZING OPERATORS - EXAMPLES 2

p̂ |pi = p |pi (7)

hq |p̂| pi = p hq |p i (8)
= pδqp (9)
The multi-particle version is therefore

p̂ = ∑ pδqpa†qap (10)
q,p

= ∑ pa†pap (11)
p

We can extend this result to functions of momentum f (p). First, we look

at powers of the momentum operator, where we can use induction to prove
that (p̂)n |pi = pn |pi. We know this is true for n = 1 so assume it’s true for
n − 1. Then

(p̂)n |pi = p̂ (p̂)n−1 |pi (12)

= pn−1 p̂ |pi (13)
= pn |pi (14)

QED. That is, |pi is an eigenvector of (p̂)n with eigenvalue pn .

Now if the function f (p̂) can be expanded in powers of p̂ then

f (p̂) = f0 + f1 p̂ + f2 (p̂)2 + . . . (15)

where the fi are constants. Now|pi is an eigenvector of the term fi (p̂)i in

the series with eigenvalue pi . In other words, we’re replacing a series in the
operator p̂ with an identical series in its eigenvalue, so

f (p̂) |pi = f (p) |pi (16)

hq | f (p̂)| pi = f (p) hq |pi (17)
= f (p) δqp (18)
Therefore the second-quantized version of f (p̂) is

 = ∑ f (p) a†pap (19)

p
= ∑ f (p) n̂p (20)
p
 SECOND QUANTIZING OPERATORS - EXAMPLES 3

The interpretation is that the operator f acts separately on each particle

with the total result being the sum of its values for all particles.
For example, the hamiltonian for a single free particle is Ĥ = p̂2 /2m so
the hamiltonian for a collection of free particles is

p2
Ĥ = ∑ n̂p (21)
p 2m
The potential energy is usually given as a function of position, so using
the momentum eigenfunction |pi = √1 e−ip·x (where V is the volume of the
V
box) we have from 1
ˆ
1
d 3 x eiq·xV (x) e−ip·x

  
q V̂  p = (22)
V
ˆ
1
= d 3 x e−i(p−q)·xV (x) (23)
V
≡ Ṽp−q (24)
The potential can then be second quantized as

V̂ = ∑ Ṽp−q a†p aq (25)

p,q

Example. Suppose we have a 3 state system with a hamiltonian

3 h i
Ĥ = E0 ∑ a†i ai +W † † † † † †
a1 a2 − a1 a3 + a2 a1 + a2 a3 − a3 a1 + a3 a2 (26)
i=1
≡ T +V (27)

where T is the kinetic energy (the first term) and V is the potential energy
(the second term). T is diagonal but V is not; we can see the effect of V on
the basis states |100i, |010i and |001i by observing that a†1 a2 |010i = |100i
(annihilate state 2 and create state 1), a†1 a2 |100i = 0 (no particle in state 2
so annihilation of state 2 produces 0) and so on.

V |100i = W (|010i − |001i) (28)

V |010i = W (|100i + |001i) (29)
V |001i = W (− |100i + |010i) (30)
We can write the hamiltonian as a matrix
 SECOND QUANTIZING OPERATORS - EXAMPLES 4

Ĥ = T +V (31)
   
1 0 0 0 1 −1
= E0  0 1 0  +W  1 0 1  (32)
0 0 1 −1 1 0

In this form, for example, 28 would be written as

    
0 1 −1 1 0
V |100i = W  1 0 1   0  = W  1  (33)
−1 1 0 0 −1
Finding the energies and eigenstates of this hamiltonian means we need
to find the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of Ĥ, which turn out to be

E = E0 +W, E0 +W, E0 − 2W (34)

The ground state |Ωi (assuming W > 0) has energy E0 − 2W and its
eigenvector is
1
|Ωi = √ (|100i − |010i + |001i) (35)
3
The other energy level E0 +W is doubly degenerate and its 2-d space of
eigenvectors is spanned by
1 1
√ (− |100i + |001i) , √ (|100i + |010i) (36)
2 2