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Identical Quantum Particles, Entanglement and Individuality
Version 1
: Received: 2 December 2019 / Approved: 3 December 2019 / Online: 3 December 2019 (05:59:55 CET)
A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.
Dieks, D. Identical Quantum Particles, Entanglement, and Individuality. Entropy 2020, 22, 134. Dieks, D. Identical Quantum Particles, Entanglement, and Individuality. Entropy 2020, 22, 134.
Abstract
Particles in classical physics are distinguishable objects, which can be picked out individually on the basis of their unique physical properties. By contrast, in quantum mechanics the standard view is that particles of the same kind (``identical particles'') are completely indistinguishable from each other. This standard view is problematic: Particle indistinguishability is irreconcilable not only with the very meaning of ``particle'' in ordinary language and in classical physical theory, but also with how this term is used in the practice of present-day physics. Moreover, the indistinguishability doctrine prevents a smooth transition from quantum particles to what we normally understand by ``particles'' in the classical limit of quantum mechanics. Elaborating on earlier work, we here discuss an alternative to the standard view that avoids these and similar problems. As it turns out, this alternative approach connects to recent discussions in quantum information theory concerning the question of when identical particles can be considered to be entangled.
Keywords
identical quantum particles; indistinguishability; the concept of a particle; emergence; entanglement
Subject
Physical Sciences, Quantum Science and Technology
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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