We study the Bogoliubov-Dirac-Fock model introduced by Chaix and Iracane (J. Phys. B., 22, 3791–3814, 1989) which is a mean-field theory deduced from no-photon QED. The associated functional is bounded from below. In the presence of an external field, a minimizer, if it exists, is interpreted as the polarized vacuum and it solves a self-consistent equation. In a recent paper, we proved the convergence of the iterative fixed-point scheme naturally associated with this equation to a global minimizer of the BDF functional, under some restrictive conditions on the external potential, the ultraviolet cut-off Λ and the bare fine structure constant α. In the present work, we improve this result by showing the existence of the minimizer by a variational method, for any cut-off Λ and without any constraint on the external field. We also study the behaviour of the minimizer as Λ goes to infinity and show that the theory is “nullified ” in that limit, as predicted first by Landau: the vacuum totally cancels the external potential. Therefore the limit case of an infinite cut-off makes no sense both from a physical and mathematical point of view. Finally, we perform a charge and density renormalization scheme applying simultaneously to all orders of the fine structure constant α, on a simplified model where the exchange term is neglected.

Abstract. We study a mean-field relativistic model which is able to describe both the behavior of finitely many spin-1/2 particles like electrons and of the Dirac sea which is self-consistently polarized in the presence of the real particles. The model is derived from the QED Hamiltonian in Coulomb gauge neglecting the photon field. All our results are non-perturbative and mathematically rigorous. Contents

We give a review of semi-classical estimates for bound states and their eigenvalues for Schrödinger operators. Motivated by the classical results, we discuss their recent improvements for single particle Schrödinger operators as well as some applications of these semi-classical bounds to multi-particle systems, in particular, large atoms and the stability of matter.

Abstract. This article is concerned with the derivation and the mathematical study of a new mean-field model for the description of interacting electrons in crystals with local defects. We work with a reduced Hartree-Fock model, obtained from the usual Hartree-Fock model by neglecting the exchange term. First, we recall the definition of the self-consistent Fermi sea of the perfect crystal, which is obtained as a minimizer of some periodic problem, as was shown by Catto, Le Bris and Lions. We also prove some of its properties which were not mentioned before. Then, we define and study in detail a nonlinear model for the electrons of the crystal in the presence of a defect. We use formal analogies between the Fermi sea of a perturbed crystal and the Dirac sea in Quantum Electrodynamics in the presence of an external electrostatic field. The latter was recently studied by Hainzl, Lewin, Séré and Solovej, based on ideas from Chaix and Iracane. This enables us to define the ground state of the self-consistent Fermi sea in the presence of a defect.

Abstract. We consider a generalized Dirac-Fock type evolution equation deduced from no-photon Quantum Electrodynamics, which describes the selfconsistent time-evolution of relativistic electrons, the observable ones as well as those filling up the Dirac sea. This equation has been originally introduced by Dirac in 1934 in a simplified form. Since we work in a Hartree-Fock type approximation, the elements describing the physical state of the electrons are infinite rank projectors. Using the Bogoliubov-Dirac-Fock formalism, introduced by Chaix-Iracane (J. Phys. B., 22, 3791–3814, 1989), and recently established by Hainzl-Lewin-Séré, we prove the existence of global-in-time solutions of the considered evolution equation. 1.

The Bogoliubov-Dirac-Fock (BDF) model is the mean-field approximation of no-photon Quantum Electrodynamics. The present paper is devoted to the study of the minimization of the BDF energy functional under a charge constraint. An associated minimizer, if it exists, will usually represent the ground state of a system of N electrons interacting with the Dirac sea, in an external electrostatic field generated by one or several fixed nuclei. We prove that such a minimizer exists when a binding (HVZtype) condition holds. We also derive, study and interpret the equation satisfied by such a minimizer. Finally, we provide two regimes in which the binding condition is fulfilled, obtaining the existence of a minimizer in these cases. The first is the weak coupling regime for which the coupling constant α is small whereas αZ and the particle number N are fixed. The second is the non-relativistic regime in which the speed of light tends to infinity (or equivalently α tends to zero) and Z, N are fixed. We also prove that the electronic solution converges in the non-relativistic limit towards a Hartree-Fock ground state.

We study the reduced Bogoliubov-Dirac-Fock (BDF) energy which allows to describe relativistic electrons interacting with the Dirac sea, in an external electrostatic potential. The model can be seen as a meanfield approximation of Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) where photons and the so-called exchange term are neglected. A state of the system is described by its one-body density matrix, an infinite rank self-adjoint operator which is a compact perturbation of the negative spectral projector of the free Dirac operator (the Dirac sea). We study the minimization of the reduced BDF energy under a charge constraint. We prove the existence of minimizers for a large range of values of the charge, and any positive value of the coupling constant α. Our result covers neutral and positively charged molecules, provided that the positive charge is not large enough to create electron-positron pairs. We also prove that the density of any minimizer is an L 1 function and compute the effective charge of the system, recovering the usual renormalization of charge: the physical coupling constant is related to α by the formula αphys ≃ α(1 + 2α/(3π) log Λ) −1, where Λ is the ultraviolet cut-off. We eventually prove an estimate on the highest number of electrons which can be bound by a nucleus of charge Z. In the nonrelativistic limit, we obtain that this number is ≤ 2Z, recovering a result of Lieb. This work is based on a series of papers by Hainzl, Lewin, Séré and Solovej on the mean-field approximation of no-photon QED.

This review is devoted to the study of stationary solutions of linear and nonlinear equations from relativistic quantum mechanics, involving the Dirac operator. The solutions are found as critical points of an energy functional. Contrary to the Laplacian appearing in the equations of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics, the Dirac operator has a negative continuous spectrum which is not bounded from below. This has two main consequences. First, the energy functional is strongly indefinite. Second, the Euler-Lagrange equations are linear or nonlinear eigenvalue problems with eigenvalues lying in a spectral gap (between the negative and positive continuous spectra). Moreover, since we work in the space domain R³, the Palais-Smale condition is not satisfied. For these reasons, the problems discussed in this review pose a challenge in the Calculus of Variations. The existence proofs involve sophisticated tools from nonlinear analysis and have required new variational methods which are now applied to other problems. In the first part, we consider the fixed eigenvalue problem for models of a

Abstract. In a recent article (Cancès, Deleurence and Lewin, Commun. Math. Phys. 281 (2008), pp. 129–177), we have rigorously derived, by means of bulk limit arguments, a new variational model to describe the electronic ground state of insulating or semiconducting crystals in the presence of local defects. In this so-called reduced Hartree-Fock model, the ground state electronic density matrix is decomposed as γ = γ0 per + Qν,εF, where γ0 per is the ground state density matrix of the host crystal and Qν,ε F the modification of the electronic density matrix generated by a modification ν of the nuclear charge of the host crystal, the Fermi level εF being kept fixed. The purpose of the present article is twofold. First, we study more in details the mathematical properties of the density matrix Qν,ε F (which is known to be a self-adjoint Hilbert-Schmidt operator on L 2 (R 3)). We show in particular that if ´ R 3 ν ̸ = 0, Qν,ε F is not trace-class. Moreover, the associated density of charge is not in L 1 (R 3) if the crystal exhibits anisotropic dielectric properties. These results are obtained by analyzing, for a small defect ν, the linear and nonlinear terms of the resolvent expansion of Qν,ε F Second, we show that, after an appropriate rescaling, the potential generated by the microscopic total charge (nuclear plus electronic contributions) of the crystal in the presence of the defect, converges to a homogenized electrostatic potential solution to a Poisson equation involving the macroscopic dielectric permittivity of the crystal. This provides an alternative (and rigorous) derivation of the Adler-Wiser formula. Contents

Abstract. We prove the existence of minimizers for Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) energy functionals with attractive two-body interactions given by Newtonian gravity. This class of HFB functionals serves as model problem for selfgravitating relativistic Fermi systems, which are found in neutron stars and white dwarfs. Furthermore, we derive some fundamental properties of HFB minimizers such as a decay estimate for the minimizing density. A decisive feature of the HFB model in gravitational physics is its failure of weak lower semicontinuity. This fact essentially complicates the analysis