Properties and $N$-representability conditions of the two-body density matrix

Abstract

A summary is presented of the properties of the coefficient matrices formed by expanding the two-body reduced density matrix in a complete set of two-electron wave functions. Calculating the relationship between the many electron wave function and these so-called two-body density matrices enables the derivation of necessary $N$-representability conditions that ensure a given matrix obeys the postulates of many-body quantum mechanics.