Theory of Fermion to Boson Mappings: Old Wine in New Bottles

After a brief review of various mappings of fermion pairs to bosons, we rigorously derive a general approach. Following the methods of Marumori and Otsuka, Arima, and Iachello, our approach begins with mapping states and constructs boson representations that preserve fermion matrix elements. In several cases these representations factor into finite, Hermitian boson images times a projection or norm operator that embodies the Pauli principle. We pay particular attention to truncated boson spaces, and describe general methods for constructing Hermitian and approximately finite boson image Hamiltonians, including effective operator theory to account for excluded states. This method is akin to that of Otsuka, Arima, and Iachello introduced in connection with the Interacting Boson Model, but is more rigorous, general, and systematic. Typeset using REVTEX 1