Identity

Abstract

Identity. From very early days of quantum theory it was recognized that quanta were statistically strange (see !Bose-Einstein statistics). Suspicion fell on the identity of quanta, of how they are to be counted [1], [2]. It was not until Dirac’s [1902-1984] work of 1926 (and his discovery of !Fermi-Dirac statistics [3]) that the nature of the novelty was clear: the quantum state of exactly similar particles of the same mass, charge, and spin must be symmetrized, yielding states either symmetric or antisymmetric under permutations. This is the symmetry postulate (SP)

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Simon Saunders
Oxford University

Citations of this work

Explaining identity and distinctness.Erica Shumener - 2020 - Philosophical Studies 177 (7):2073-2096.
Do identity and distinctness facts threaten the PSR?Erica Shumener - 2020 - Philosophical Studies 178 (4):1023-1041.

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References found in this work

Are quantum particles objects?Simon Saunders - 2006 - Analysis 66 (1):52-63.
On the explanation for quantum statistics.Simon Saunders - 2006 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 37 (1):192-211.

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