TFD extension of a self-consistent RPA to finite temperatures

The self-consistent RPA (SCRPA) developed by Schuck and coauthors is extended to finite temperatures. The corresponding equations are derived by using the formalism of thermofield dynamics. The intrinsic energy of a system is calculated as the expectation value of the Hamiltonian with respect to a T-dependent thermal vacuum state for a thermal-phonon operator. A nonvanishing number of thermal quasiparticles in the vacuum state are assumed. By virtue of the assumption, the thermal Hartree-Fock (HF) equations appear to be coupled to the equations of motion for phonon variables. The thermal occupation numbers are also calculated in a consistent way with the energies of the HF quasiparticles. The approximation is applied to the two-level Lipkin model. Advantages of the thermal SCRPA (TSCRPA) are most obvious at temperatures near the phase-transition point. In the TSCRPA, the phase transition occurs at lower T than in other approximations. Moreover, within the TSCRPA, a statistical behavior of the Lipkin model is described with an appropriate accuracy at any T even if the HF transformation parameter is kept fixed at a value corresponding to the "spherical" phase of the HF field. (C) 2001 MAIK "Nauka/Interperiodica".