The concept 'indistinguishable'
The concept of indistinguishable particles in quantum theory is fundamental to questions of ontology. All ordinary matter is made of electrons, protons, neutrons, and photons and they are all indistinguishable particles. Yet the concept itself has proved elusive, in part because of the interpretatio...
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Langue: | English |
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Elsevier
2020
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| _version_ | 1826307510983720960 |
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| author | Saunders, S |
| author_facet | Saunders, S |
| author_sort | Saunders, S |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | The concept of indistinguishable particles in quantum theory is fundamental to questions of ontology. All ordinary matter is made of electrons, protons, neutrons, and photons and they are all indistinguishable particles. Yet the concept itself has proved elusive, in part because of the interpretational difficulties that afflict quantum theory quite generally, and in part because the concept was so central to the discovery of the quantum itself, by Planck in 1900; it came encumbered with revolution.
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I offer a deflationary reading of the concept ‘indistinguishable’ that is identical to Gibbs' concept ‘generic phase’, save that it is defined for state spaces with only finitely-many states of bounded volume and energy (finitely-many orthogonal states, in quantum mechanics). That, and that alone, makes for the difference between the quantum and Gibbsean concepts of indistinguishability.
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This claim is heretical on several counts, but here we consider only the content of the claim itself, and its bearing on the early history of quantum theory rather than in relation to contemporary debates about particle indistinguishability and permutation symmetry. It powerfully illuminates that history. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:04:10Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:0a8f64bf-f27b-40d4-abdd-043eceb24f5f |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:04:10Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:0a8f64bf-f27b-40d4-abdd-043eceb24f5f2022-04-29T09:30:45ZThe concept 'indistinguishable'Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:0a8f64bf-f27b-40d4-abdd-043eceb24f5fEnglishSymplectic ElementsElsevier2020Saunders, SThe concept of indistinguishable particles in quantum theory is fundamental to questions of ontology. All ordinary matter is made of electrons, protons, neutrons, and photons and they are all indistinguishable particles. Yet the concept itself has proved elusive, in part because of the interpretational difficulties that afflict quantum theory quite generally, and in part because the concept was so central to the discovery of the quantum itself, by Planck in 1900; it came encumbered with revolution. <br> I offer a deflationary reading of the concept ‘indistinguishable’ that is identical to Gibbs' concept ‘generic phase’, save that it is defined for state spaces with only finitely-many states of bounded volume and energy (finitely-many orthogonal states, in quantum mechanics). That, and that alone, makes for the difference between the quantum and Gibbsean concepts of indistinguishability. <br> This claim is heretical on several counts, but here we consider only the content of the claim itself, and its bearing on the early history of quantum theory rather than in relation to contemporary debates about particle indistinguishability and permutation symmetry. It powerfully illuminates that history. |
| spellingShingle | Saunders, S The concept 'indistinguishable' |
| title | The concept 'indistinguishable' |
| title_full | The concept 'indistinguishable' |
| title_fullStr | The concept 'indistinguishable' |
| title_full_unstemmed | The concept 'indistinguishable' |
| title_short | The concept 'indistinguishable' |
| title_sort | concept indistinguishable |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT saunderss theconceptindistinguishable AT saunderss conceptindistinguishable |