Hafnian point processes and quasi-free states on the CCR algebra

TL;DR

This paper introduces hafnian point processes, a class including permanental processes, and shows they can be realized as spectral measures of quasi-free states on the CCR algebra, linking point process theory with quantum field representations.

Contribution

It establishes a connection between hafnian point processes and quasi-free states on the CCR algebra, providing a new framework for understanding these processes in quantum terms.

Findings

Hafnian point processes include permanental and 2-permanental processes.

Cox processes with Gaussian field intensities are hafnian point processes.

Such processes correspond to spectral measures of quasi-free CCR representations.

Abstract

Let $X$ be a locally compact Polish space and $\sigma$ a nonatomic reference measure on $X$ (typically $X=\mathbb R^d$ and $\sigma$ is the Lebesgue measure). Let $X^2\ni(x,y)\mapsto\mathbb K(x,y)\in\mathbb C^{2\times 2}$ be a $2\times 2$-matrix-valued kernel that satisfies $\mathbb K^T(x,y)=\mathbb K(y,x)$. We say that a point process $\mu$ in $X$ is hafnian with correlation kernel $\mathbb K(x,y)$ if, for each $n\in\mathbb N$, the $n$th correlation function of $\mu$ (with respect to $\sigma^{\otimes n}$) exists and is given by $k^{(n)}(x_1,\dots,x_n)=\operatorname{haf}\big[\mathbb K(x_i,x_j)\big]_{i,j=1,\dots,n}\,$. Here $\operatorname{haf}(C)$ denotes the hafnian of a symmetric matrix $C$. Hafnian point processes include permanental and 2-permanental point processes as special cases. A Cox process $\Pi_R$ is a Poisson point process in $X$ with random intensity $R(x)$. Let $G(x)$ be a complex Gaussian field on $X$ satisfying $\int_{\Delta}\mathbb E(|G(x)|^2)\sigma(dx)<\infty$ for each compact $\Delta\subset X$. Then the Cox process $\Pi_R$ with $R(x)=|G(x)|^2$ is a hafnian point process. The main result of the paper is that each such process $\Pi_R$ is the joint spectral measure of a rigorously defined particle density of a representation of the canonical commutation relations (CCR), in a symmetric Fock space, for which the corresponding vacuum state on the CCR algebra is quasi-free.