2 The single-particle retarded Green function and its spectral function 4 2.1 Retarded, advanced, “greater”, and “lesser” single-particle Green functions . 4 2.2 The meaning of 〈· · ·〉 and the time dependence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.3 Some other forms of the Green functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.3.1 Transformations to other bases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....