Approximate seniority-dictated boson-quasifermion mapping and derivation of the interacting boson fermion model

We derive an approximate boson-quasifermion mapping of a single-j shell-model algebra, applicable to the seniority classification scheme, as an expansion in the ratio of the seniority quantum number to the level degeneracy, with selective summation of higher order terms. The procedure used is an extension of the algebraic technique first applied to the purely bosonic part of the mapping by Bonatsos, Klein, and Li. Only the maps of the generators are needed to derive a Hamiltonian for the interacting boson fermion model (IBFM), and these can be obtained in Hermitian form without having to go through the intermediary of a mapping of the fermion operators. Application of the results is illustrated by a fresh discussion of the so-called exchange interaction of the IBFM. A consistent mapping of the single fermion in terms of bosons and quasifermions is also derived that includes a consideration of the unusual properties of the quasifermions