English

Constructing and Constraining Wave Functions for Identical Quantum Particles

Quantum Physics 2017-01-16 v1

Abstract

I address the problem of explaining why wave functions for identical particles must be either symmetric or antisymmetric (the symmetry dichotomy) within two interpretations of quantum mechanics which include particles following definite trajectories in addition to, or in lieu of, the wave function: Bohmian mechanics and Newtonian quantum mechanics (a.k.a. many interacting worlds). In both cases I argue that, if the interpretation is formulated properly, the symmetry dichotomy can be derived and need not be postulated.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1608.08590,
  title  = {Constructing and Constraining Wave Functions for Identical Quantum Particles},
  author = {Charles Sebens},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1608.08590},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

27 pages, 2 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-22T15:35:42.231Z