Seke's self-consistent projection-operator method has been developed for deriving non-Markovian equations of motion for probability amplitudes of a relevant set of state vectors. This method, in a Born-like approximation, leads automatically to an Hamiltonian restricted to a subspace and thus enables the construction of effective Hamiltonians. In the present paper, in order to explain the efficiency of Seke's method in particular applications, its algebraic operator structure is analyzed and a new successive approximation technique for the calculation of eigenstates and eigenvalues of an arbitrary quantum-mechanical system is developed. Unlike most perturbative techniques, in the present case each order of the approximation determines its own effective (approximating) Hamiltonian ensuring self-consistency and formal exactness of all results in the corresponding approximation order.
Relativistic hydrodynamics from the projection operator method
