Abstract

Since the canonical commutation relations for a finite number of degrees of freedom have many inequivalent irreducible representations, the states of a physical system may span more than one such representation. `Superseparability' is defined to be the case in which no meaning can be attached to a superposition of vectors belonging to inequivalent representations. In this paper, which is basically nonmathematical, we trace the origin of superseparability and suggest two experiments that may establish the existence of the phenomenon. We then discuss which-path experiments and interaction-free measurements in the light of superseparability, and conclude with stating some open problems. A mathematical appendix provides the essential mathematical background.