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I'm trying to understand the discussion in this book on the fermionization of the 2D Ising model. The transfer matrix for this model becomes $T = \theta\tilde{\theta}$ where: $$\theta = e^{\beta \sum_{x}\sigma_{x}^{(1)}\sigma_{x+1}^{(1)}} \quad \mbox{and} \quad \tilde{\theta} = e^{\tilde{\beta}\sum_{x}\sigma_{x}^{(3)}}$$ where $\sigma^{(i)}_{x}$ are Pauli matrices at each $x$: $$\sigma^{(1)} = \begin{pmatrix} 0 & 1 \\ 1 & 0 \end{pmatrix}, \quad \sigma^{(2)} = \begin{pmatrix} 0 & -i \\ i & 0 \end{pmatrix} \quad \mbox{and} \quad \sigma^{(3)} = \begin{pmatrix} 1 & 0 \\ 0 & -1 \end{pmatrix} $$ Then, the following change of variables is made: $$\Gamma_{-\frac{1}{2},0} := \sigma_{0}^{(1)} \quad \Gamma_{x-\frac{1}{2},x} := \bigg{(}\prod_{0}^{x-1}\sigma_{x'}^{(3)}\bigg{)}\sigma_{x}^{(1)} \quad (x\ge 1)$$ and: $$\Gamma_{0,\frac{1}{2}} := \sigma_{0}^{(2)} \quad \mbox{and} \quad \Gamma_{x,x+\frac{1}{2}} :=\bigg{(}\prod_{0}^{x-1}\sigma_{x'}^{(3)}\bigg{)}\sigma_{x}^{(2)} \quad (x\ge 1)$$ After some manipulations, we get: $$\theta(\beta) = e^{-i\beta \sum_{x}\Gamma_{x,x+\frac{1}{2}}\Gamma_{x+\frac{1}{2},x+1}} \quad \mbox{and} \quad \tilde{\theta}(\beta) = e^{-i\tilde{\beta}\sum_{x}\Gamma_{x-\frac{1}{2},x}\Gamma_{x,x+\frac{1}{2}}}$$ Finally, one more change of variables $\Gamma_{x-\frac{1}{2},x} = a_{x}+a^{\dagger}_{x}$ and $\Gamma_{x,x+\frac{1}{2}} = i(a_{x}-a^{\dagger}_{x})$ leads to: \begin{eqnarray}\tilde{\theta}(\beta) = e^{\tilde{\beta}\sum_{x}(a^{\dagger}_{x}a_{x}-a_{x}a^{\dagger}_{x})} = \prod_{x}(e^{-\tilde{\beta}}+2\sin\tilde{\beta}a^{\dagger}_{x}a_{x})\tag{1}\label{1}\end{eqnarray}

Then, the author states:

Accordingly, using the same symbol, the corresponding integral kernel is: \begin{eqnarray}\tilde{\theta}(\tilde{\beta},\tilde{\xi},\xi) = \prod_{x}(e^{-\tilde{\beta}}+2\sin\tilde{\beta}\tilde{\xi}_{x}\xi_{x})e^{\tilde{\xi}_{x}\xi_{x}}\tag{2}\label{2}\end{eqnarray}

Question: What is done to pass from (\ref{1}) to (\ref{2})? I don't follow the reasoning.

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  • $\begingroup$ Do you understand Grassmann "integrals"? $\endgroup$
    – mike stone
    Commented Apr 29, 2021 at 17:34
  • $\begingroup$ Mike, yes, I do! $\endgroup$ Commented Apr 29, 2021 at 17:39

1 Answer 1

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Correspondence between fermionic operators and their integral kernels is introduced earlier in this book. The relevant text begins at the end of page 53 and lasts till the beginning of page 55 and even further.

Equation (1) defines an operator in terms of fermionic creation-annihilation operators $a^\dagger_x$, $a_x$. At the same time eqution (2) expresses a function of grassmannian variables $\overline{\xi}_x$, $\xi_x$. Grassmannian variables are numbers with special properties, not operators.

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