The Pauli exclusion principle is fundamental to understanding electronic quantum systems. It namely constrains the expected occupancies n i of orbitals i according to 0 n i 2 . In this work, we first refine the underlying one-body N -representability problem by taking into account simultaneously spin symmetries and a potential degree of mixedness w of the N -electron quantum state. We then derive a comprehensive solution to this problem by using basic tools from representation theory, convex analysis and discrete geometry. Specifically, we show that the set of admissible orbital one-body reduced density matrices is fully characterized by linear spectral constraints on the natural orbital occupation numbers, defining a convex polytope N , S ( w ) 0 , 2 d . These constraints are independent of M and the number d of orbitals, while their dependence on N , S is linear, and we can thus calculate them for arbitrary system sizes and spin quantum numbers. Our results provide a crucial missing cornerstone for ensemble density (matrix) functional theory.
Liebert et al. (2025) studied this question.