Linked Cluster Expansions in the Statistical Theory of Ferromagnetism

A general perturbation theory of the statistics of spin interactions is developed in the form of a linked cluster expansion with particular emphasis on the Ising model. The theory applies to the evaluation of the expectation value of arbitrary spin functions as well as of the free energy. The thermodynamical consistency of the perturbation expansion is shown to arise from (1) variational principles satisfied by the free energy after a "renormalization procedure" has been carried out and (2) a generalized "Ward Identity" between renormalized quantities. These results are used to discuss inconsistencies in recent high-density theories of ferromagnetism and an improved theory obtained by the summation of all the convolution diagrams (nodal expansion) is briefly presented. The applicability of the method to general quantum mechanical many-body problems, including the theory of the Heisenberg model of ferromagnetism, is shown.