Related papers: Indistinguishable particles and hidden variables
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…
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…
Hidden-variable models aim to reproduce the results of quantum theory and to satisfy our classical intuition. Their refutation is usually based on deriving predictions that are different from those of quantum mechanics. Here instead we…
We present a method for describing and characterizing the state of N particles that may be distinguishable in principle but not in practice due to experimental limitations. The technique relies upon a careful treatment of the exchange…
Quantum particles and classical particles are described in a common setting of classical statistical physics. The property of a particle being "classical" or "quantum" ceases to be a basic conceptual difference. The dynamics differs,…
Usually the 'hidden variables' of Bell's theorem are supposed to describe the pair of Bell particles. Here a semantic shift is proposed, namely to attach the hidden variables to a stochastic medium or field in which the particles move. It…
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.…
A characteristical property of a classical physical theory is that the observables are real functions taking an exact outcome on every (pure) state; in a quantum theory, at the contrary, a given observable on a given state can take several…
We introduce geometric measures of entanglement for indistinguishable particles, which apply to mixed states, multipartite systems, and arbitrary dimensions. They are based on generalized (i.e., not necessarily finite) norms on the set of…
We examine an elementary problem on prime divisibility of binomial coefficients. Our problem is motivated by several related questions on alternating groups.
This is a comment on J. A. Barrett's article ``The Preferred-Basis Problem and the Quantum Mechanics of Everything'' in Brit. J. Phil. Sci. 56 (2005), which concerns theories postulating that certain quantum observables have determinate…
We present a general criterion for entanglement of N indistinguishable particles decomposed into arbitrary s subsystems based on the unambiguous measurability of correlation. Our argument provides a unified viewpoint on the entanglement of…
Hidden variables are extra components added to try to banish counterintuitive features of quantum mechanics. We start with a quantum-mechanical model and describe various properties that can be asked of a hidden-variable model. We present…
An experiment is described which proves, using single photons only, that the standard hidden variables assumptions (commonly used to derive Bell inequalities) are inconsistent with quantum mechanics. The analysis is very simple and…
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…
One of quantum theory's salient features is its apparent indeterminism, i.e. measurement outcomes are typically probabilistic. We formally define and address whether this uncertainty is unavoidable or whether post-quantum theories can offer…
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…
We introduce detector-level entanglement, a unified entanglement concept for identical particles that takes into account the possible deletion of many-particle which-way information through the detection process. The concept implies a…
The concept of entanglement in systems where the particles are indistinguishable has been the subject of much recent interest and controversy. In this paper we study the notion of entanglement of particles introduced by Wiseman and Vaccaro…
The suggestion that particles of the same kind may be indistinguishable in a fundamental sense, even so that challenges to traditional notions of individuality and identity may arise, has first come up in the context of classical…