Abstract
The approach to the many-fermion problem known as the method of higher random phase approximations (RPA) is given a more rigorous formulation. It is shown that the previous heuristic procedures for evaluation of the second RPA are justified, in that expectation values of plane wave operators with respect to the true ground state may validly be replaced by their values in the unperturbed Fermi state. This property of momentum-space occupation renormalization is conjectured to hold also to higher orders of RPA than the second.