Fermionic coherent states

The aim of this paper is to give a self-contained and unified presentation of a fermionic coherent state theory with the necessary mathematical details, discussing their definition, properties and some applications. After defining Grassmann algebras, it is possible to get a classical analog for the fermionic degrees of freedom in a quantum system. Following the basic work of Berezin (1966 The Method of Second Quantization (New York: Academic); 1987 Introduction to Superanalysis (Dordrecht: Reidel Publishing Company)), we show that we can compute with Grassmann numbers as we do with complex numbers: derivation, integration, Fourier transform. After that we show that we have quantization formulas for fermionic observables. In particular, there exists a Moyal product formula. As an application, we consider explicit computations for propagators with quadratic Hamiltonians in annihilation and creation operators. We prove a Mehler formula for the propagator and Mehlig–Wilkinson-type formulas for the covariant and contravariant symbols of 'metaplectic' transformations for fermionic states. This article is part of a special issue of Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical devoted to 'Coherent states: mathematical and physical aspects'.