Fermions and the Jordan-Wigner transform V: Diagonalization Continued
In today’s post we continue with the train of thought begun in the last post, learning how to find the energy spectrum of any Hamiltonian quadratic in Fermi operators. Although we don’t dwell in this post on the connection to specific physical models, this class of Hamiltonians covers an enormous number of models of relevance in condensed matter physics. In later posts we’ll apply these results (together with the Jordan-Wigner transform) to understand the energy spectrum of some models of interacting spins in one dimension, which are prototypes for an understanding of quantum magnets and many, many other phenomena, including many systems which undergo quantum phase transitions.
Update: Thanks to Steve Mayer for fixing a bug in the way matrices are displayed.
Note: This post is one in a series describing fermi algebras, and a powerful tool known as the Jordan-Wigner transform, which allows one to move back and forth between describing a system as a collection of qubits, and as a collection of fermions. The posts assume familiarity with elementary quantum mechanics, comfort with elementary linear algebra (but not advanced techniques), and a little familiarity with the basic nomenclature of quantum information science (qubits, the Pauli matrices).
The Hamiltonian
we diagonalized in the last post can be generalized to any Hamiltonian which is quadratic in Fermi operators, by which we mean it may contain terms of the form
and
. We will not allow linear terms like
. Additive constant terms
are easily incorporated, since they simply displace all elements of the spectrum by an amount
. There are several ways one can write such a Hamiltonian, but the following form turns out to be especially convenient for our purposes:

The reader should spend a little time convincing themselves that for the class of Hamiltonians we have described, it is always possible to write the Hamiltonian in this form, up to an additive constant
, and with
hermitian and
antisymmetric.
This class of Hamiltonian appears to have first been diagonalized in an appendix to a famous Annals of Physics paper by Lieb, Schultz and Mattis, dating to 1961 (volume 16, pages 407-466), and the procedure we follow is inspired by theirs. We begin by defining operators
:

We will try to choose the complex numbers
and
to ensure that: (1) the operators
satisfy Fermionic CCRs; and (2) when expressed in terms of the
,
has the same form as
, and so can be diagonalized.
A calculation shows that the condition
is equivalent to the condition

while the condition
is equivalent to the condition

These are straightforward enough equations, but their meaning is perhaps a little mysterious. More insight into their structure is obtained by rewriting the connection between the
s and the
s in an equivalent form using vectors whose individual entries are not numbers, but rather are operators such as
and
, and using a block matrix with blocks
and
:
![\left[ \begin{array}{c} b_1 \\ \vdots \\ b_n \\ b_1^\dagger \\ \vdots \\ b_n^\dagger \end{array} \right] = \left[ \begin{array}{cc} \gamma & \mu \\ \mu^* & \gamma^* \end{array} \right] \left[ \begin{array}{c} a_1 \\ \vdots \\ a_n \\ a_1^\dagger \\ \vdots \\ a_n^\dagger \end{array} \right]. \left[ \begin{array}{c} b_1 \\ \vdots \\ b_n \\ b_1^\dagger \\ \vdots \\ b_n^\dagger \end{array} \right] = \left[ \begin{array}{cc} \gamma & \mu \\ \mu^* & \gamma^* \end{array} \right] \left[ \begin{array}{c} a_1 \\ \vdots \\ a_n \\ a_1^\dagger \\ \vdots \\ a_n^\dagger \end{array} \right].](/blog/latexrender/pictures/c9dd5f2c55ade4f3b86abcd2caa58ff1.png)
The conditions derived above for the
s to satisfy the CCRs are equivalent to the condition that the transformation matrix
![T \equiv \left[ \begin{array}{cc} \gamma & \mu \\ \mu^* & \gamma^* \end{array} \right] T \equiv \left[ \begin{array}{cc} \gamma & \mu \\ \mu^* & \gamma^* \end{array} \right]](/blog/latexrender/pictures/570b8b4b7030b4f2f894756dddc4b42b.png)
is unitary, which is perhaps a somewhat less mysterious condition than the earlier equations involving
and
. One advantage of this representation is that it makes it easy to find an expression for the
in terms of the
, simply by inverting this unitary transformation, to obtain:
![\left[ \begin{array}{c} a_1 \\ \vdots \\ a_n \\ a_1^\dagger \\ \vdots \\ a_n^\dagger \end{array} \right] = T^\dagger \left[ \begin{array}{c} b_1 \\ \vdots \\ b_n \\ b_1^\dagger \\ \vdots \\ b_n^\dagger \end{array} \right]. \left[ \begin{array}{c} a_1 \\ \vdots \\ a_n \\ a_1^\dagger \\ \vdots \\ a_n^\dagger \end{array} \right] = T^\dagger \left[ \begin{array}{c} b_1 \\ \vdots \\ b_n \\ b_1^\dagger \\ \vdots \\ b_n^\dagger \end{array} \right].](/blog/latexrender/pictures/68565a0911c3bf65db580827c15a594f.png)
The next step is to rewrite the Hamiltonian in terms of the
operators. To do this, observe that:
![H = [ a_1^\dagger \ldots a_n^\dagger a_1 \ldots a_n ] \left[ \begin{array}{cc} \alpha & -\beta^* \ \beta & -\alpha^* \end{array} \right] \left[ \begin{array}{c} a_1 \\ \vdots \\ a_n \\ a_1^\dagger \\ \vdots \\ a_n^\dagger \end{array} \right]. H = [ a_1^\dagger \ldots a_n^\dagger a_1 \ldots a_n ] \left[ \begin{array}{cc} \alpha & -\beta^* \ \beta & -\alpha^* \end{array} \right] \left[ \begin{array}{c} a_1 \\ \vdots \\ a_n \\ a_1^\dagger \\ \vdots \\ a_n^\dagger \end{array} \right].](/blog/latexrender/pictures/fea559786b3a146b03f7b4512afa604b.png)
It is actually this expression for
which motivated the original special form which we chose for
. The expression is convenient, for it allows us to easily transform back and forth between
expressed in terms of the
and
in terms of the
. We already have an expression in terms of the
operators for the column vector containing the
and
terms. With a little algebra this gives rise to a corresponding expression for the row vector containing the
and
terms:
![[a_1^\dagger \ldots a_n^\dagger a_1 \ldots a_n] = [b_1^\dagger \ldots b_n^\dagger b_1 \ldots b_n] T. [a_1^\dagger \ldots a_n^\dagger a_1 \ldots a_n] = [b_1^\dagger \ldots b_n^\dagger b_1 \ldots b_n] T.](/blog/latexrender/pictures/402c560861205127990a8794bdb6a111.png)
This allows us to rewrite the Hamiltonian as
![H = [b^\dagger b] T M T^\dagger \left[ \begin{array}{c} b \\ b^\dagger \end{array} \right], H = [b^\dagger b] T M T^\dagger \left[ \begin{array}{c} b \\ b^\dagger \end{array} \right],](/blog/latexrender/pictures/49ab45935a1ccbf1a2bb79b0eec9f3d9.png)
where we have used the shorthand
to denote the vector with entries
, and
![M = \left[ \begin{array}{cc} \alpha & -\beta^* \\ \beta & -\alpha^* \end{array} \right]. M = \left[ \begin{array}{cc} \alpha & -\beta^* \\ \beta & -\alpha^* \end{array} \right].](/blog/latexrender/pictures/9e48c6ab3ec65d08d8e147f8b2fc2b82.png)
Supposing we can choose
such that
is diagonal, we see that the Hamiltonian can be expressed in the form of
, and the energy spectrum found, following our earlier methods.
Since
is hermitian and
antisymmetric it follows that
also is hermitian, and so can be diagonalized for some choice of unitary
. However, the fact that the
s must satisfy the CCRs constrains the class of
s available to us. We need to show that such a
can be used to do the diagonalization.
We will give a heuristic and somewhat incomplete proof that this is possible, before making some brief remarks about what is required for a rigorous proof. I’ve omitted the rigorous proof, since the way I understand it is uses a result from linear algebra that, while beautiful, I don’t want to explain in full detail here.
Suppose
is any unitary such that
![T M T^\dagger = \left[ \begin{array}{cc} d & 0 \\ 0 & -d \end{array} \right], T M T^\dagger = \left[ \begin{array}{cc} d & 0 \\ 0 & -d \end{array} \right],](/blog/latexrender/pictures/cf498b2cf03b8495308a4f51e9c55b4f.png)
where
is diagonal, and we used the special form of
to deduce that the eigenvalues are real and appear in matched pairs
. We’d like to show that
can be chosen to be of the desired special form. To see that this is plausible, consider the map
, where
is a block matrix:
![S = \left[ \begin{array}{cc} 0 & I \\ I & 0 \end{array} \right]. S = \left[ \begin{array}{cc} 0 & I \\ I & 0 \end{array} \right].](/blog/latexrender/pictures/a97289cb3684fb1169940a0d3badca0f.png)
Applying this map to both sides of the earlier equation we obtain
![ST^* M^* T^T S^\dagger = \left[ \begin{array}{cc} -d & 0 \\ 0 & d \end{array} \right] = -TMT^\dagger. ST^* M^* T^T S^\dagger = \left[ \begin{array}{cc} -d & 0 \\ 0 & d \end{array} \right] = -TMT^\dagger.](/blog/latexrender/pictures/19cbc5f3ed08253b7d3ea207e50f1e33.png)
But
, and so we obtain:

It is at least plausible that we can choose
such that
, which would imply that
has the required form. What this actually shows is, of course, somewhat weaker, namely that
commutes with
.
One way of obtaining a rigorous proof is to find a
satisfying
![T M T^\dagger = \left[ \begin{array}{cc} d & 0 \\ 0 & -d \end{array} \right], T M T^\dagger = \left[ \begin{array}{cc} d & 0 \\ 0 & -d \end{array} \right],](/blog/latexrender/pictures/cf498b2cf03b8495308a4f51e9c55b4f.png)
and then to apply the cosine-sine (or CS) decomposition from linear algebra, which provides a beautiful way of representing block unitary matrices, and which, in this instance, allows us to obtain a
of the desired form with just a little more work. The CS decomposition may be found, for example, as Theorem VII.1.6 on page 196 of Bhatia’s book “Matrix Analysis” (Springer-Verlag, New York, 1997).
Problem: Can we extend these results to allow terms in the Hamiltonian which are linear in the Fermi operators?
In this post we’ve seen how to diagonalize a general Fermi quadratic Hamiltonian. We’ve treated this as a purely mathematical problem, although most physicists will probably have little trouble believing that these techniques are useful in a wide range of physical problems. In the next post we’ll explain a surprising connection between these ideas and one-dimensional spin systems: a tool known as the Jordan-Wigner transform can be used to establish an equivalence between a large class of one-dimensional spin systems and the type of Fermi systems we have been considering. This is interesting because included in this class of one-dimensional spin systems are important models such as the transverse Ising model, which serve as a general prototype for quantum magnetism, are a good basis for understanding some naturally occurring physical systems, and which also serve as prototypes for the understanding of quantum phase transitions.
satisfy the Fermionic CCRs, and we have a system with Hamiltonian
for each value of
. In physical terms, this is the Hamiltonian used to describe a system of free, i.e., non-interacting, Fermions.
implies that
for any state
, and thus the ground state energy of
such that
for all
. It follows that the ground state energy of
.
have any sign, with the result that the ground state energy is
, and the ground state
. More generally, the allowed energies of the excited states of this system correspond to sums over subsets of the
, with repetition allowed, is there a subset of those integers which adds up to a desired target,
? Obviously, the problem of determining whether 
, i.e., the matrix
is itself hermitian.
are complex numbers. We are going to try to choose the 
and writing
gives
denotes the matrix product of the matrix
and its adjoint
. To compute
we use the linearity of the anticommutator bracket in each term to express
, each of which is 
, i.e., provided
in order to emphasize the unitarity of this matrix. We now have
we can invert this equation to obtain

is diagonal, with entries
, the eigenvalues of 
for all
for all
. In one direction, this is trivial: just multiply
. In the other direction, we multiply
. Substituting the CCR
, we obtain
, so this simplifies to
for all
for all
to the ground state.
and
.
that can take the values
or
. Suppose we have a randomized algorithm
which takes as input
and an
-bit uniformly distributed random variable
, and outputs either
. We assume that:
with certainty.
with probability at least
.
is the maximal probability that the algorithm fails, in the case when
times, computing
. If we get
for all
for at least one value of
, then we output
bits, and reduces the failure probability to at most
.
as follows. It requires a
whose vertex set
contains
vertices, each of which can represent a possible
to
. The modified algorithm
.
step random walk on the expander, generating random variables
.
. If any of these are
is replaced by a random walk on the expander. The advantage of doing this is that only
random bits are required –
for each step in the random walk. When
with uniform and independently generated random bits
.
to be the set of values of
, yet
all fall within 
, and so the failure probability is at most
, we again get an exponential decrease in the failure probability as the number of repetitions
are commuting Hermitian (indeed, normal suffices) operators with spectral decompositions:
are the eigenvalues of
, and
are the corresponding projectors. Since the
the operators
also commute. For a vector
define the operator

form a complete set of orthonormal projectors. Furthermore, suppose we have
. Then we will show that for any
, so
. This shows that the operators
project onto a complete orthonormal set of simultaneous eigenspaces for the
, and observe that
. This gives
. But
, so we obtain
, which completes the proof.
. You’ll need to look elsewhere for that, however!
operators
is a normalized eigenstate of
is a normalized eigenstate of
for all values
.
orthonormal states which are simultaneous eigenstates of the
. At this point, we know that
to be the orthocomplement of
, and thus the eigenvalues of
, where we used the CCR
. Note also that
. It follows that
is a normalized eigenstate of
, where we used the fact that
, since
.
.
is a normalized eigenstate of
to deduce
. But
, whence
, which is the desired normalization condition.
, where the final equality can be deduced either from the assumption that
. This is the desired eigenvalue equation for
.
, and apply the CCRs repeatedly to obtain
, which is the desired commutativity.
or
. It will be convenient to assume that
for all
, where each 
, and that they form an orthonormal set spanning a subspace of
.
be that vector which results when the
, where
.
, where
.
, and consider
also, i.e., that for any
we have
. This follows easily by considering the complex conjugate quantity
, and observing that
, since
. A similar argument shows that
obtained by restricting
, and thus of
, and on each vector space we will have an orthonormal basis with respect to which the action of
for
, and such that the action of the
, with the action of
component. We will call this the occupation number representation for the Fermi algebra
we will call this the fundamental representation for the Fermionic CCRs. (This is the terminology I use, but I don’t know if it is standard or not.) Up to a change of basis it is clear that all other representations can be obtained by taking a tensor product of the fundamental representation with the trivial action on a
describing the probability of being at any given vertex in the graph 
, i.e., up to a constant of proportionality the transition matrix is just the adjacency matrix. This relationship between the adjacency matrix and random walks opens up a whole new world of connections between graphs and Markov chains.
.
as a stationary point,
. Then for any starting distribution 
denotes the
norm.
we obtain:

, if and only if
norm
. Since
, and so:
is orthogonal to
. It follows that
, easily established by observing that
is convex in
. To convert this into a result about the
, and thus we obtain
, unless
uniformly at random from the graph. Suppose we use
, where
is the vertex after the
be the event that
for all
. Then we will prove that:
, we get the desired exponential decrease in probability. For a family of expander graphs it follows that there is some constant
such that we get an exponential decrease for any
. These results are special cases of the following more general theorem about Markov chains.
. Then

projects onto the vector space spanned by those basis vectors corresponding to elements of
, where the norm here is the operator norm. We will do this below, but note first that once this is done, the result follows, for we have


.
is a normalized state such that
. Decompose
, where
is a normalized state orthogonal to
we must have
. Furthermore, multiplying
shows that
. It follows that
is maximized by choosing
. A little algebra shows that
,
gives