Perturbation Expansion for Real-Time Green's Functions

The development of the time-translation operators in a matrix element of an arbitrary operator is examined. It is noted that we may interpret time as evolving from some remotely early time (t0) to a time in the far future (t∝) and then back to (t0). Using this interpretation, a perturbation expansion is developed for Green's functions defined along this path and a separation of the two-particle interaction terms into self-energy parts and single-particle Green's function terms is justified for quantities on this path. A connection is established between the real-time Green's functions and the Green's function defined along the path, thereby yielding a perturbation expansion for the real-time functions and a justification of the separation of the interaction terms in the equations of motion for the real-time quantities. The transport equations of Kadanoff and Baym are derived without resorting to an analytic continuation from imaginary times and without the correction terms of Fujita.