Related papers: Identical Quantum Particles and Weak Discernibilit…
According to the Received View identical quantum particles are a previously unknown kind of objects that do not possess individuality. In this Chapter we discuss this view, criticize it, and propose an alternative. According to this…
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…
Some hypothetical particles are considered essentially undetectable because they are far too light and slow-moving to transfer appreciable energy or momentum to the normal matter that composes a detector. I propose instead directly…
A remarkable feature of quantum theory is that particles with identical intrinsic properties must be treated as indistinguishable if the theory is to give valid predictions. In the quantum formalism, indistinguishability is expressed via…
It is shown that quantum systems of identical particles can be treated as if they were different when they are in well differentiated states. This simplifying assumption allows the consideration of quantum systems isolated from the rest of…
The symmetrization postulates of quantum mechanics (symmetry for bosons, antisymmetry for fermions) are usually taken to entail that \emph{quantum particles} of the same kind (e.g., electrons) are all in exactly the same state and therefore…
If, in a system of identical particles, the one particle state is defined by the partial trace to one of the component spaces of the total Hilbert space, then all one particle states are identical. The particles are indistinguishable. This…
We propose a model describing spin-half quantum particles in curved spacetime in the framework of quantum field theory. Our model is based on embodying Einstein's equivalence principle and general covariance in the definition of…
We study the problem of particle indistinguishability for the three cases known in nature: identical classical particles, identical bosons and identical fermions. By exploiting the fact that different types of particles are associated with…
All particles of the same type are indistinguishable, according to a fundamental quantum principle. This entails a description of many-particle states using symmetrised or anti-symmetrised wave functions, which turn out to be formally…
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 mathematical rules used to handle systems of identical quantum particles bring into question whether the elementary constituents of matter, such as electrons, have the fundamental characteristics of persistence and reidentifiability…
In a series of recent papers, Simon Saunders, Fred Muller and Michael Seevinck have collectively argued, against the philosophy of quantum mechanics folklore, that some non-trivial version of Leibniz's principle of the identity of…
We argue, based on typical properties of known solutions of string/$M$-theory, that the lightest supersymmetric particle of the visible sector will not be stable. In other words, dark matter is {\em not} a particle with Standard Model…
According to our understanding of the everyday physical world, observable phenomena are underpinned by persistent objects that can be reidentified (or tracked) across time by observation of their distinctive properties. This understanding…
The study of entanglement in systems composed of identical particles raises interesting challenges with far-reaching implications in both, our fundamental understanding of the physics of composite quantum systems, and our capability of…
We consider entanglement in a system of fixed number of identical particles. Since any operation should be symmetrized over all the identical particles and there is the precondition that the spatial wave functions overlap, the meaning of…
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.…
The Gibbs paradox has frequently been interpreted as a sign that particles of the same kind are fundamentally indistinguishable; and that quantum mechanics, with its identical fermions and bosons, is indispensable for making sense of this.…
Elementary particles in quantum mechanics (QM) are indistinguishable when sharing the same intrinsic properties and the same quantum state. So, we can consider quantum particles as non-individuals, although non-individuality is usually…