Field-theoretic methods for systems of particles with exotic exclusion statistics

Abstract

We calculate the partition function of a gas of particles obeying Haldane exclusion statistics, using a definition of a Hilbert space having a `fractional dimension' and constructing appropriate coherent states. The fractional dimension is expressed though the form of the identity operator in the Hilbert space. We find that there many possible generalisations of the Pauli exclusion principle, with particular choices of the scalar product leading to consistency either with Haldane's original definition of the effective dimensionality of the Hilbert space or with the combinatorial procedure invoked by Haldane and Wu. We explicitly demonstrate that at low particle densities these definitions are equivalent.