Structure of a Many-Particle Quantum-Mechanical Medium

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Abstract
A discussion is given of the wave function of a many-particle system. The wave function itself is quite complex, containing all combinations of "clusters" of interacting particles. Expectation values, however may be calculated in a straightforward manner, as is shown in detail. In particular, the expectation value of an operator may be expanded in "linked clusters," each "linked cluster" being weighted with its probability of occurrence in the wave function. The theory is applied to the calculation of the momentum spectrum and pair correlation functin for a dilute gas, a degenerate Fermi-Dirac system, and a degenerate Bose-Einstein system of hard spheres.