From bosons and fermions to spins: A multi-mode extension of the Jordan-Schwinger map

The Jordan-Schwinger map is widely employed to switch between bosonic or fermionic mode operators and spin observables, with numerous applications ranging from quantum field theories of magnetism and ultracold quantum gases to quantum optics. While the construction of observables obeying the algebra of spin operators across multiple modes is straightforward, a mapping between bosonic or fermionic Fock states and spin states has remained elusive beyond the two-mode case. Here, we generalize the Jordan-Schwinger map by algorithmically constructing complete sets of spin states over several bosonic or fermionic modes, allowing one to describe arbitrary multi-mode systems faithfully in terms of spins. As a byproduct, we uncover a deep link between the degeneracy of multi-mode spin states in the bosonic case and Gaussian polynomials. We demonstrate the feasibility of our approach by deriving explicit relations between arbitrary three-mode Fock and spin states, which provide novel interpretations of the genuinely tripartite entangled GHZ and W state classes.