We investigate indistinguishability of identical bosons and fermions undergoing arbitrary particle-number-preserving evolutions of their visible degrees of freedom. For the projective indistinguishability measure, defined by the projection of the visible state onto the symmetric/anti-symmetric subspace, we derive an equivalent expression in terms of the dynamically invariant internal state. We further generalize the textbook symmetrization/anti-symmetrization framework for bosons and fermions to arbitrary partial distinguishability by deriving an explicit reconstruction formula for the multiparticle visible state in terms of the indistinguishability function encoding the dynamical invariants. We give complete characterization of the class-functions of indistinguishability by projective measures on generalized symmetries. Finally, we reveal a strikingly counterintuitive effect: introducing additional particle label states can increase the multiparticle indistinguishability of identical particles. The effect originates from the cancellation of collective multiparticle phases.
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Main text of 5 pages; Appendices A-E of 15 pages in total; one figure is divided into two independent parts
We investigate indistinguishability of identical bosons and fermions undergoing arbitrary particle-number-preserving evolutions of their visible degrees of freedom. For the projective indistinguishability measure, defined by the projection of the visible state onto the symmetric/anti-symmetric subspace, we derive an equivalent expression in terms of the dynamically invariant internal state. We further generalize the textbook symmetrization/anti-symmetrization framework for bosons and fermions to arbitrary partial distinguishability by deriving an explicit reconstruction formula for the multiparticle visible state in terms of the indistinguishability function encoding the dynamical invariants. We give complete characterization of the class-functions of indistinguishability by projective measures on generalized symmetries. Finally, we reveal a strikingly counterintuitive effect: introducing additional particle label states can increase the multiparticle indistinguishability of identical particles. The effect originates from the cancellation of collective multiparticle phases.
Identical particles have dynamically invariant labels in all setups where their degrees of freedom can be partitioned into two parts, which we call internal and visible, with the visible part subject to unitary evolution, while the dynamically invariant internal part accounts for the partial distinguishability of particles. We give the explicit form of the visible state in terms of the indistinguishability function, generalizing the standard symmetrization/antisymmetrization postulate for bosons/fermions with internal modes. The indistinguishability function on the symmetric group accounts for the permutation symmetry of the dynamically invariant label state and gives a self-contained description of the symmetry spectrum of the visible state. It is shown that the indistinguishability of single particles emitted independently from a stable source is completely characterized by the projective measures on the symmetry spectrum. We reveal a hierarchy of successive upper bounds on the projective measure of indistinguishability in terms of marginal projective measures. We point out an experimentally feasible way to get the upper bounds on the indistinguishability of an arbitrarily large number of single photons by direct experimental readout of their marginal projective measures. We also analyze the indistinguishability of coherent superpositions and convex mixtures and resolve a recently posed problem.
Abstract We show how to characterize the indistinguishability of up to four identical, bosonic or fermionic particles, which are rendered partially distinguishable through their internal degrees of freedom prepared in mixed states. This is accomplished via their counting statistics when subjected to a highly symmetric unitary acting upon their external (i.e. dynamical) degrees of freedom. For pure internal states, we further extract information on the particles’ collective phases, which ultimately allows for an experimental reconstruction of the full many-particle density operator up to complex conjugation.
It is well known that bosons and fermions exhibit opposite behaviors when experiencing interference, in the sense that bosons have a tendency to bunch whereas fermions have a tendency to antibunch. Recently, this complementarity was mathematically characterized in [arXiv:2312.17709] by means of an identity relating the transition probabilities of both types of particles in a linear interferometer. Here, we show that such a complementarity still holds even when particles become partially distinguishable, for example, when they have slightly different polarizations or time delays. Namely, we establish a relation that combines bosonic and fermionic multiparticle interferences in an arbitrary linear interferometer, in the presence of partial distinguishability. Incidentally, this also provides a new mathematical identity relating the permanent and determinant of tensors of order 3. Importantly, this complementarity has direct operational consequences in quantum metrology. Indeed, we show that the correlation matrices for bosonic and fermionic particle number distributions at the output of the interferometer obey a simple sum rule: their sum equals twice the correlation matrix for classical particles. This, in turn, constraints the achievable quantum Fisher information in phase-estimation protocols, highlighting a trade-off whereby greater indistinguishability enhances bosonic sensitivity whereas reduced indistinguishability can benefit fermionic schemes.
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 additional assumptions on the input state of the interferometer, such as, for instance, a fixed mode occupation, nor on any assumption on the degrees of freedom that potentially make the particles distinguishable. We identify the expectation value of the projector onto the N-particle symmetric subspace as an operationally meaningful measure of indistinguishability, and derive tight lower bounds on it that can be efficiently measured in experiments. Moreover, we present a consistent definition of perfect distinguishability and characterize the corresponding set of states. In particular, we show that these states are diagonal in the computational basis up to a permutationally invariant unitary. Moreover, we find that convex combinations of states that describe partially distinguishable and perfectly indistinguishable particles can lead to perfect distinguishability, which itself is not preserved under convex combinations.
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 all cases. In the quantum formalism, indistinguishability is expressed via the symmetrization postulate (Dirac P 1926 Proc. R. Soc. A 112 661 , Heisenberg W 1926 Z. Phys. 38 411 ), which restricts a system of identical particles to the set of symmetric states ('bosons') or the set of antisymmetric states ('fermions'). However, the physical basis and range of validity of the symmetrization postulate has not been established. A well-known topological derivation of the postulate implies that its validity depends on the dimensionality of the space in which the particles move (Laidlaw M and DeWitt C 1971 Phys. Rev. D 3 1375–8 , Leinaas J M and Myrheim J 1977 Il Nuovo Cimento B 37 1–23 ). Here we show that the symmetrization postulate can be derived by strictly adhering to the informational requirement that particles which cannot be experimentally distinguished from one another are not labelled. Our key novel postulate is the operational indistinguishability postulate, which posits that the amplitude of a process involving several indistinguishable particles is determined by the amplitudes of all possible transitions of these particles when treated as distinguishable. The symmetrization postulate follows by requiring consistency with the rest of the quantum formalism. The derivation implies that the symmetrization postulate admits no natural variants. In particular, the possibility that identical particles generically exhibit anyonic behavior in two dimensions is excluded.
This chapter addresses the quantum mechanics of identical particles, emphasizing the role of wavefunction symmetry in determining statistical behavior. Symmetric and antisymmetric wavefunctions are defined, and the implications of particle indistinguishability are examined, particularly regarding how it influences measurable outcomes and the concept of energy exchange degeneracy. The distinguishability of identical particles is discussed and shown to affect specific calculations. For systems where particle interactions can be neglected in the zero-order approximation, the total energy eigenfunction is expressed as a product of single-particle eigenfunctions. The Pauli exclusion principle is derived as a consequence of antisymmetrization. The relationship between symmetry type (bosonic or fermionic) and quantum statistics is elaborated. As an illustration, the ground state and the first excited s-state of the helium atom are analyzed under a simplified approximation. Metadata/Keywords: identical particles, symmetric wavefunction, antisymmetric wavefunction, Pauli exclusion principle, quantum statistics, energy exchange degeneracy, indistinguishability, helium atom, symmetry and statistics