Another Formulation of the Wick's Theorem. Farewell, Pairing?

Abstract

The algebraic formulation of Wick's theorem that allows one to present the vacuum or thermal averages of the chronological product of an arbitrary number of field operators as a determinant (permanent) of the matrix is proposed. Each element of the matrix is the average of the chronological product of only two operators. This formulation is extremely convenient for practical calculations in quantum field theory and statistical physics by the methods of symbolic mathematics using computers.