Boson Expansions for an Exactly Soluble Model of Interacting Fermions with SU(3) Symmetry

An exactly soluble three-level model for a system of fermions with Hamiltonian formed from generators of the group SU(3) is studied. A basis for the representation of which the ground state is a member is constructed. It is demonstrated that in this representation, the generators can each be expanded in a series as functions of a pair of ``kinematical'' boson operators; the series are uniquely determined to satisfy the operator algebra and the invariants of the representation by a method of Marumori. It is seen that the lowest anharmonic approximation to the Hamiltonian and other operators yields excellent numerical agreement with exact results for all regimes of interaction strength considered. An alternative description of the system in terms of a dynamically more meaningful boson, called the ``physical'' boson, is shown to be appropriate for relatively weak coupling where one has a near harmonic spectrum.