Nonlinear Hartree equation as the mean field limit of weakly coupled fermions (Q1763420)

The present paper proposes a time-dependent mean-field theory for the evolution of interacting fermions under a weak analytic pair interaction with initial data localized in a cube of size of order one. It is assumed that the kinetic and the potential energy per particle are of the same order of magnitude. With respect to Coulomb systems, one considers a Hartree-Fock theory which includes quantum exchange contributions. General relations of the \(N\)-body density matrix of the fermion system and its Wigner transform are received. The usefulness of an assumption about the factorization of the \(N\)-particle Wigner transform in the initial state in the limit of an infinite number of particles is demonstrated for the examples of Slater determinants and quasi-free states. A BBGKY hierarchy for the system of \(N\)-body Wigner transforms is developed, and the solutions of the hierarchy of equations are compared with tensor products of solutions of the one-particle Hartree equation which neglects exchange terms. Basing on perturbative expansions of solutions of the BBGKY hierarchy it is proven that for a general class of initial data there exists a fixed time \(T\) such that the difference between the one-particle density matrix of the fermion system and the solution of the nonlinear Hartree equation is of the order of \(N^{-1}\) for any time \(t\leq T\). \noindent Examples of systems considered in the paper are found in astrophysics and plasma physics.