Related papers: Discerning "indistinguishable" quantum systems
It has been experimentally demonstrated that quantum coherence can persist in macroscopic phenomena [J.R. Friedman et al.,Nature, 406 (2000) 43]. To face the challenge of this new fact, in this article QM in its standard form is assumed to…
Quantum mechanics is a theory that is as effective as it is counterintuitive. While quantum practices operate impeccably, they compel us to embrace enigmatic phenomena like the collapse of the state vector and non-locality, thereby pushing…
We consider the many-particle quantum mechanics of anyons, i.e. identical particles in two space dimensions with a continuous statistics parameter $\alpha \in [0,1]$ ranging from bosons ($\alpha=0$) to fermions ($\alpha=1$). We prove a…
\noindent In our contribution to this volume we deal with \emph{discrete} symmetries: these are symmetries based upon groups with a discrete set of elements (generally a set of elements that can be enumerated by the positive integers). In…
Identical classical particles are distinguishable. This distinguishability affects the number of ways W a macrostate can be realized on the micro-level, and from the relation S = k ln W leads to a non-extensive expression for the entropy.…
Quantum systems of indistinguishable particles are commonly described using the formalism of second quantisation, which relies on the assumption that any admissible quantum state must be either symmetric or anti-symmetric under particle…
Cylindrically symmetric quantum mechanical systems with position dependent masses (PDM) admitting at least one second order integral of motion are classified. It is proved that there exist 68 such systems which are inequivalent. Among them…
Two particles are identical if all their intrinsic properties, such as spin and charge, are the same, meaning that no quantum experiment can distinguish them. In addition to the well known principles of quantum mechanics, understanding…
Supersymmetry, a new symmetry that relates bosons and fermions in particle physics, still escapes observation. Search for supersymmetry is one of the main aims of the Large Hadron Collider. The other possible manifestation of supersymmetry…
Despite being the most fundamental object in quantum theory, physicists are yet to reach a consensus on the interpretation of a quantum wavefunction. In the broad class of realist approaches, quantum states are viewed as Liouville-like…
The principle of the identity of indiscernibles (PII) states that if two systems are qualitatively identical then they are logically identical. French and Redhead (1988) and Butterfield (1993) have shown the sense in which bosons and…
Quantum coherence, a basic feature of quantum mechanics residing in superpositions of quantum states, is a resource for quantum information processing. Coherence emerges in a fundamentally different way for nonidentical and identical…
This article shows that one can consistently incorporate nonunitary representations of at least one group into the ``ordinary'' nonrelativistic quantum mechanics. This group turns out to be Lorentz group thus giving us an alternative…
This is a systematic review of the concept of indistinguishability in both classical and quantum mechanics, with particular attention to Gibbs' paradox. Section 1 is on the Gibbs paradox; section 2 is a defense of the concept of classical…
Supersymmetry is one of the most important and indispensable ingredients of modern theoretical physics. However, the absence, at least at the time of publishing this review, of experimental verification of supersymmetry in elementary…
According to classical physics particles are basic building blocks of the world. Classical particles are distinguishable objects, individuated by physical characteristics. By contrast, in quantum mechanics the standard view is that…
It is shown that the supersymmetric quantum mechanics has an octonionic generalization. The generalization is based on the inclusion of quaternions into octonions. The elements from the coset octonions/quaternions are unobservables bacause…
Using tools from quantum information theory, we present a general theory of indistinguishability of identical bosons in experiments consisting of passive linear optics followed by particle number detection. Our results do neither rely on…
The Fock space of a system of indistinguishable particles is isomorphic (in a non-unique way) to the state-space of a composite i.e., many-modes, quantum system. One can then discuss quantum entanglement for fermionic as well as bosonic…
The claim that a particle is an irreducible representation of the Poincar\'e group -- what I call \emph{Wigner's identification} -- is now, decades on from Wigner's (1939) original paper, so much a part of particle physics folklore that it…