Possible generalizations of the statistics of identical particles, parastatistics, and the corresponding theories of parafields are reviewed. The connection between parastatistics and cases of degeneracy of particles with respect to an internal degree of freedom is discussed, and also the restrictions that are imposed on internal symmetries if they are given a parafield description. In particular, the difference between the hypotheses of ''three-color'' quarks and ''paraquarks'' is discussed.
Parastatistics is an exotic type of exchange statistics beyond fermions and bosons. Paraparticles transform in higher dimensional representations of the exchange symmetry group, analogous to non-Abelian anyons, yet consistently defined in any dimension. Although paraparticles have long been proposed, they were widely believed to be physically equivalent to fermions or bosons. Nevertheless, a recent paper proposed a different theory, called
R-parastatistics, and demonstrated that nontrivial
R-paraparticles can emerge as quasiparticles in condensed matter systems, and are observably distinct from both fermions and bosons. This paper develops the theoretical foundation and several extensions of
R-parastatistics, with particular emphasis on its observable consequences. Central to this paper is a general theory of local observables extending the basic family introduced before. First, we define local observables that distinguish particle types. Second, we formulate local observables at special point defects that probe the internal indices of
R-paraparticles, crucial for observing
R-parastatistics and for the proposed applications in quantum information. Third, we introduce local observables that create or annihilate particle-antiparticle pairs, important for building a relativistic quantum field theory for
R-paraparticles. We further introduce generalized hidden symmetries that act on internal indices of
R-paraparticles while preserving the local observable algebra, providing a basis for proving local indistinguishability and for connecting to a categorical description of
R-paraparticles. This work sets a solid theoretical foundation for understanding the fundamental physical properties of
R-paraparticles and pave the way for finding them in nature.
The simplest para fermi model is shown to be equivalent to a theory with two types of ordinary fer~ions that are dynamically indistinguishable.This model exhibits cluster properties as well as the usual analyticity and crossing properties, and hence parastatistics cannot be ruled out on any of these grounds.For a complete discussion of cluster properties it is necessary to establish "That quanti ties are observable in systems containing identical particles that are not necessarily fermions or bosons.It is argued that particle permutations are observables and that it is consistent to assume that these are the only observables that depend on the ordering of variables.This theory of ..j..
The scattering process is equivalent to the collision process and relates the physics of gaseous states, solid state physics (electrons colliding with phonons in the crystal lattice), plasma physics and so on. When we cannot directly visualize particles, scattering can be a valuable probe for their study. An example is the hydrogen atom that scattering experiments confirm it to have a nucleus with an electron orbiting around it. Scattering experiments also confirm protons to have some constituents called quarks. So the scattering theory is pivotal in understanding of the quantum nature of particles. In principle, we can formulate all problems of quantum mechanics in the language of scattering theory.
A new formulation of the many-electron correlation problem is presented based on the use of parastatistics. It is shown that second-order para-Fermi creation and annihilation operators, which correspond to the creation and annihilation of spin-averaged paraparticles, occur naturally for the spin-independent many-electron problem. Moreover, the spin-independent many-electron Hamiltonian is directly expressible in terms of the parafield operators. The structure of the general para-Fermi algebra is also investigated from the viewpoint of the pseudo-orthogonal group O(2n+1, 1). Finally, an explicit matrix representation for the para-Fermi algebra of order 2, which enables one to handle even particle-number-nonconserving operators, is obtained in a canonical U(n)-adapted basis.
Although usually only two kinds of statistics, namely Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac statistics, are considered in Quantum Mechanics and in Quantum Field Theory, other kinds of statistics, called collectively parastatistics, are conceivable. We critically review theoretical studies of parastatistics to date, point out and clarify several confusions. We first study the "proofs" so far proposed for the symmetrization postulate which excludes parastatistics, emphasizing their ad hoc nature. Then, after exploring in detail the structure of the quantum mechanical theory of paraparticles, we clarify some confusions concerning the compatibility of parastatistics with the so-called cluster property, which has been an issue of controversy for several years. We show, following a suggestion of Greenberg, that the quantum mechanical theory of paraparticles can be formulated in terms of density matrix compatibly with the cluster property. We also discuss such topics as selection rules for systems with variable numbers of paraparticles, the connection between statistics and permutation characters, and the classification of paraparticles. For the quantum field theory of paraparticles, we study discrete representations of the para-commutation relations and illustrate in detail Greenberg and Messiah's theorem concerning Green's ansatzes. Also, fundamental topics such as the spin-statistic theorem, the TCP theorem and the observability of parafields are discussed on the basis of Green's ansatzes. Finally, we point out that the so-called particle permutation operators do not always define multi-dimensional representations of the permutation group both in first and second quantization theories. This questions the validity of the correspondence between the two theories which has recently been proposed.