Commutate my hamiltonian H with a fermionic anihillation operator

In summary, the conversation discusses the problem of commuting a fermionic annihilation operator with a Hamiltonian written in terms of bosonic operators. It is mentioned that different types of particles have commuting creation and annihilation operators, and that phonons are described as quasi-particles with similar commutation relations as bosonic particles. The concept of wave function symmetrization is also brought up, but it is noted that it does not apply to phonon oscillations. Finally, the behavior of phonons in terms of their spectral function and interactions is explained.
  • #1
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Homework Statement


I have problem where I need to commutate my hamiltonian H with a fermionic anihillation operator. Had H been written in terms of fermionic operators I would know how to do this, but the problem is that it describes phonon oscillations, i.e. is written in terms of bosonic operators:
H = ∑kb_k(dagger)b_k
How do I commute this with a fermionic operator?
 
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  • #2
If you have different kinds of (quasi) particles the corresponding annihilation and creation operators all commute.
 
  • #3
So in terms of symmetrization of wave functions, should I understand different quasiparticles as distinguishable particles such that the complete wavefunction is a simple product of the fermion and boson wavefunction?
edit: wait.. phonon oscillations are even real particles so wave function symmetrization etc. does not really make sense to talk about.
How should I understand, starting from the basic wave function symmetrization (from which the creation and anihillation operators came), that the operators commute?
 
  • #4
Phonons are elementary excitations of the normal modes of lattice vibrations of solid. These you can describe either by the position and momentum variables of the molecules making up the lattice or, equivalently, in terms of annihilation and creation operators as for one simple oscillator. These annihilation and creation operators fulfill the same commutation relations as the analogous operators for bosonic particles. That leads to the picture of various collective modes (here lattice vibrations) of a many-body system as "quasi-particle excitations". As long as the coupling of the quasiparticles to other degrees of freedom is weak, they have sharply peaked spectral functions. For non-interacting phonons the spectral function is given by a sum of [itex]\delta[/itex] distributions, and thus they behave mathematically like stable particles. If you include interactions, e.g., with electrons, single atoms or impurities of the lattice leads to scattering and thus collisional broadening of the phonon's spectral function. The classical analogue of this is that the lattice vibrations are damped, i.e., energy is dissipated from the vibrations to other degrees of freedom.
 
  • #5

To commutate a Hamiltonian with a fermionic annihilation operator, you would first need to express the Hamiltonian in terms of fermionic operators. In this case, since the Hamiltonian is written in terms of bosonic operators, you would need to use the boson-fermion transformation to rewrite it in terms of fermionic operators. This transformation involves replacing the bosonic operators with linear combinations of fermionic operators. Once you have expressed the Hamiltonian in terms of fermionic operators, you can then commute it with the fermionic annihilation operator as you normally would. It is important to note that the result of this commutation will depend on the specific form of the Hamiltonian and the fermionic operator, so it is difficult to give a general answer without more information.
 

1. What does it mean to "commutate" a hamiltonian with a fermionic annihilation operator?

Communtation refers to the mathematical operation of taking the commutator of two operators, which is defined as the difference between the product of the two operators and the product of the operators in the reverse order. In this context, "commutating" the hamiltonian with a fermionic annihilation operator means performing this mathematical operation on the two operators.

2. Why is it important to commutate the hamiltonian with a fermionic annihilation operator?

Commutating the hamiltonian with a fermionic annihilation operator is important because it allows us to study the behavior and properties of the system in question. The commutator of the hamiltonian with the annihilation operator gives us information about the system's energy levels and how they are affected by the creation and annihilation of fermions.

3. How is the commutator of the hamiltonian and fermionic annihilation operator related to fermionic statistics?

The commutator of the hamiltonian and fermionic annihilation operator is related to fermionic statistics through the fundamental anticommutation relations. These relations state that the commutator of two fermionic operators is equal to their anticommutator with a negative sign. This is a crucial aspect of fermionic statistics and is reflected in the commutator of the hamiltonian and annihilation operator.

4. Can the commutator of the hamiltonian and fermionic annihilation operator be used to calculate the energy of a fermionic system?

Yes, the commutator of the hamiltonian and fermionic annihilation operator can be used to calculate the energy of a fermionic system. This is because the commutator gives us information about the energy levels of the system, and by understanding how the annihilation operator affects these energy levels, we can determine the system's overall energy.

5. Are there any practical applications for commutating the hamiltonian with a fermionic annihilation operator?

Yes, there are practical applications for commutating the hamiltonian with a fermionic annihilation operator. This mathematical operation is commonly used in quantum mechanics and quantum field theory to study the behavior of fermionic systems and understand their properties. It also helps in the development of new technologies such as quantum computing, which relies on the principles of quantum mechanics.

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