Composite particles in nonrelativistic many-body theory: Foundations and statistical mechanics

A new fundamental theory of composite particles in nonrelativistic many-body systems is developed. The theory is constructed making use solely of the physical Fock space for the basic elementary particles which comprise the many-body system. In this manner exchange symmetry in the elementary particles is exact. Physical composite particle creation and annihilation operators are introduced and these operators satisfy exact Bose (Fermi) commutation (anticommutati$\stackrel{\mathrm{̇}}{\mathrm{o}}$n) relations depending on whether the composites correspond to bosons or to fermions. Commuting physical occupation number operators for composite particles are then constructed in the usual manner from the composite creation and annihilation operators. These number operators are highly dressed in terms of the basic elementary particle operators. Finally, the foundations of statistical mechanics for bound composite particles are formulated in terms of the appropriate occupation number operators.