Revista

Mexicana

de Fsiro 42, No. 1 (1996) 145-150

Bogoliubov inequality
DOMINGO PRATO AND DANIEL E. BARRACO Fa.M.A.F., Universidad Nacional de Crdoba Ciudad Universitaria, Crdoba 5000, Argentina Recibido el 3 de mayo de 1995; aceptado el 9 de agosto de 1995

ABSTRACT. A proof of the Bogoliubov inequality that does not require of the Baker-CambellHausdorff expansion is presented. The inequality is used to get an approximation free energy of an isotopicalIy disordered harmonic chain. to the Helmholtz

RESU~IEN. En este trahajo se presenta una demostracin de la desigualdad de 130goliubov que no requiere de la frmula de l3aker-Cambell-Hausdorff. La desigualdad es usada para obtener la
energa libre de Helmholtz aproximada para una cadena armnica con desorden isotpico. PACS: 05.30.-d; 63.50.+x

l. I30GOLIUBOV lNEQUALITY The variational method is one of the most powerful tools to find approximate solutions for physical systems that are not amenable to analytical treatment. In statistical mechanics the Bogoliubov inequality (I3I), that satisfies the free energy of a Hamiltonian system, provides us with the frame in which a variational scheme can be implemented. The proof of the I3I is shown in Callen's second edition book on thermodynamics [11 for the case when the unperturbed Hamiltonian and the perturbation commute. For the general case, the reader is referred to Feynman 's book on statistical mechanics [21 where an elegant proof can be found. Feynman uses I3akcr-Cambell-Housdorff expansion for the exponential of a sum of two non commuting operators. This expansion is also used by H. Falk [31 to prove what he calls iniquality of J.\V. Gibbs. Applications of I3I have been done by M. Girardcau [41 and R. Griffiths 151. Due to thc usefulness ofthis inequality wc think that it is convcnient to have at hand a proof that does not require of thc expansion aboye mentioncd. \Ve present here a proof that only uses some of the elcmcnts of matrix algebra and perturbation theory thercforc making it accessible to any studcnt with an elcmentary course on quantum mechanics. Besides the proof of the inequality a perturbation cxpansion of thc frec energy is obtained in thc proccdure. Thc BI is applied to a isotopically disordcrcd hannonic chain in thermodynamic cquilibrium. Givcn a physical systcm whose Hamiltonian can be written as thc sum (1) whcrc HO is the unperturbed Hamiltonian, HI thc perturbation and .\ is a control parameter, assume that thc free encrgy FO of the unJlerturbed systcm is known ami wc want to
145

146

DOMINGO

PRATO

AND

DANIEL

E.

BARRACO

know F(>') the free energy for different values of the parameter states that

>..

Bogoliubov

inequality

(2) where the average (.. ')0 means

(A)

TrIA exp( -3HO)] Tr[exp( -3HO)) ,

(3)

with 13= (kBT)-I. We proceed now to prove BI [Eq. (2)1. The free energy F(>') is defined by

F(>') = -13-1 In Tr[exp( -3H)]

-3Ho -3>'HI

)].

(4)

We are going to show first that F(>.) is a concave function of the parameter

>.,

i.c. (5)

v>..

Assuming that our basis is the set of eigenvectors of the operator HO, it means that the representation of this operator is given by a diagonal matrix whose elements are (6) In case that HO is n-fold degenerated,

i.e., 1/J?" 1/J?, have the same eigenvalues HP, we may

choose our basis such as = O for il i' ik and il, ik /, k aH the foHowing calculation are valido Let S be the matrix that diagonalizes JI, then

HPl

= il,

i2,""

in' \Vith this election

(7) where D is a diagonal matrix. Taking an expansion of S and D in power of

>.

we have

(HO

+ mI) [1+ >'S + ~2S + ...]

[1+ >'S + ~2S + ...]

[HO

+ >.t + ~2D + ...] ,

where the d9t means derivative with respect to the para meter Equating the different order in >. in (8) we get

>.

evaluated

at

>.

= O.

HOS+HI HOS+2HIS

SHO+iJ,

= SHO+D+2SiJ,

(a)

BOGOLlUIlOV

INEQUALlTY

147

From the first of (9) we obtain S. = Hl) H) -ll 1) ami from the ullitarity cOlldition for the matrix S SS! = 1 = (1 + '\S up lo tcnns linear in A wc have

1 (O

0)-1
1

(i

. j),

(10)

+ ... )(1 + '\SI + ...)

(11)

s + SI = O,
which can be satisfied if we choose S real and antisymmetric. Taking the diagonal elements of the second of Eqs. (9)
'\""

(12)

Hij

SI"

ji='jDi=L

'\""
j

H HJi (HO_lfO)'
I

( 13)

with the 5mn carried over j . i. Taking into account the fact that the trace of a product of operatol's is invariant cyclic permutations we have the following expl'ession fol' the frec cllergy:

under

F('\) = -kBT In Tr[exp( -/3lf)] = -kBTlnTr[S-lexp(-iD)S] = -kBTln

dF
d'\

Tr[D exp( -/3D))

d2 F _ Tr[exp( -/3D)] Tr[( -/3.6Z d,\2 = /3

+ O) exp( -/3D)] + /3{'fr

[D cxp( -/3D)]

[Tr[D exp( -/3D) Trlexp( -/3D)J

r
Z

(15 )

-/3 Tr[D2 exp( -/3D)] Tr[exp( -/3D)]

+ Tr[O

exp( -/3D)] Tr[exp( -/3D)] .

Evaluatillg

these derivatives

at ,\ = O we have

dFI d'\

= Z

-1,\",

1 o lfii exp( -/3Hi ).

z'" L exp( -/3H?),

d2 F = /3 [L
d,\2

Hlo exp( -/3H?)]

IH,\12 exp( -/3H?)

(16)

Li exp( -/3Hi)O Lj ' 2Hij1 l/ji1 [O Hi - Ilj 0]-1

148

DOMINGO

PRATO AND DANIEL

E.

BARRACO

The third term of the last equation is a sum over all pairs of indices i and j (i # j) of the positive quantities IH12 with the weighting factor exp( -,8Hp)/[Hp - HJJ, for every couple of terms, i and j, we have that their contribution which is clearly negative. Using the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality is [exp( -,8HP) - exp( -,8HJ)J [JI?~JlJl

(1 i)
with Un = H~n exp( -,8H~/2) and bm = Z-l exp( -,8H';./2) one HOVeSthat the absolut value of the second term of Eq. (lG) is greater than the first one, leaving us with the inequality

(18) In order to prove that P(>.) is a concave fllnction of the parameter unperturbed Hamiltonian of the system and the control parameter:

>.

we redefine the

H = HO

+ >'H1

lIo + (>. - >'0)H1 + >'oHI, = iJo + (>. _ >'o)HI = iJo + vH1

( 19)

so we have now (20)

The proof of the El is completed with the observation of the fact that the value of a concave function is always below the taugent line to any point of the curve. In particular we have P(>.) ::; pO Finally taking

+ ~~ lo >..

(21 )

>. = 1 we

get the 131.

2.

ApPLICATION

OF THE

El

\Ve willuse the 131to get an approximattioll to the Hemlholtz free ellergy for an isotopically disordered harmonic chain with periodic boulldary condition. \Ve assume that the masses of the chain are independent random variables with identical density of probability P(rni) and the I100kean spring constant are all taken equal to unity.

BOGOLIUBOV

INEQUALITY

149

Considering the system in thermodynamic equilibrium at temperature T, we want to determine the mass m of a homogeneous chain which gives a Helmholtz free energy c10sest to the averaged exact one. Consider the Hamiltonian of the system for a given realization of the desorder in the masses

(22)
where X is the displacement of the i'h mass from its equilibrium position, with and p its linear momentum. The Hamiltonian can be written in the form H
XN+I

= X

l/O

N [ 2 + + H' = L .!!i... i=1

2m

X+ 1 - X)

2] + L.!!i... N 2 (m -. 1;1

1 .

(23)

2m

rn

The BI allows us to write for any realization

of the disorder the following inequality:

(24)
where FO(m) is the free energy of the homogeneous mean values over the masses distribution we get
F

harmonic chain with masses m. Taking

:s:

FO(m)

t (.:::: -1) ( pr) ,

2m.

(25)

where (!;) is defined by

(~)

==

~/(m) I1m.
J(

(26) is a half of

Using the fact that for an homogeneous harmonic chain the kinetic energy the total energy, UD, we get the final expression for the upper bound of F:

(27)
Writting down the expression of FO(m) minimizes the right side of (27) we get
m=

and Uo(m)

and using m as a parameter

that

(~)-
m

(28)

150

DOMINGO PRATO ANO DANIEL E. BARRACO

Studing the dyrramics of a isotopically disordered harmonic chain one finds that the system behaves as an homogeneous chain of masses given by (28) for short times but, for long times the behaviour corresponds to an homogeneous chain with masses given by [6,7)
m

(m)

miP(mi)

dmi.

(20)

Due to the thermodynamic behaviour would correspond

equilibrium of the system one is inclined to think that its to that of a dynamical situation after a long time.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Dr. Walter Lamberti for useful discussion on this subject. ported partially by CONJCOR grants PID 2400/02, PID 2476/02.

This work \Vas sup-

REFERENCES

1. H.B. Callen, Thermodynamics and an Introduction to Thermostatistics, 2nd Ed., Wiley (1985). 2. R.P. Feymman, Statistical Mechanics, a Set 01 Lecturcs. Frontiers in Physics, W.A. Benjamin (1972). 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

H. Falk Am. J. Phys. 38 (1970) 858. M. Girardeau, J. Math. Phys. 3 (1962) 131. R.B. Griffiths, J. Math. Phys. 5 (1964) 1215. S. Alexander, J. Bernasconi, W.R. Schneider, and R. Orbach, Rev. Mod. Phys. 53 (1981) 175. P.J. Denteneer and M.H. Ernst, Phys. Rev. B29 (1984) 1755; 1. Phys. C16 (1983) L961.