Statistical basis for physical laws; non-relativistic theory

M.S. Rogalski, Stuart B. Palmer

At the beginning of the century doubts were growing about the whole edifice of classical physics, including the laws of mechanics in their Lagrangian and Hamiltonian forms, of statistical thermodynamics, as formulated by Boltzmann and Gibbs, and of optics, namely Maxwell’s and Fresnel’s theory. Einstein proposed that electromagnetic radiation exists in discrete quanta whilst propagating in space as well as during the emission or absorption processes. Scattering by free electrons is a common interaction connected with the absorption of electromagnetic radiation. If the electromagnetic energy is large compared with the ionization energy, the atomic electron can be treated as free. The characteristic features of the scattered radiation have been explained by Compton, on the basis of an elastic collision of a photon with a free electron, where both energy and momentum are conserved. The concept of the matter wavelength holds for both relativistic and non-relativistic particles, provided that the appropriate form of momentum is used.

L. S. F. Olavo

Paolo Grigolini A

Markus Johansson

In [N. Friis, New J. Phys. 18, 033014 (2016)] the non-relativistic description of fermions is considered and in particular the role of the parity superselection rule in relation to the characterization of entanglement. An argument based on the spin-statistics connection is presented as a physical motivation for the parity superselection rule. Since the spin statistics connection was derived in the context of relativistic quantum mechanics it is argued that the inclusion of the parity superselection rule is motivated by Lorentz invariance. Based on this it is further argued that fermionic Quantum Information theory and the theory of special relativity are conceptually inseparable. In this comment a different, and well known, motivation for the parity superselection rule is given that does not rely on arguments from relativistic quantum mechanics, but instead uses the assumptions that the laws of physics are the same for different observers and the no-signalling principle.

Daniel Joseph Dady, Nikola Tesla, Mahátma Gándhí

There has been, for nearly a century, an intellectually dishonest academical argument perpetuating in the annals of universities worldwide that we must accept, as fact, that there are two incomplete and incompat- ible theories that govern the physical laws of nature and that we must accept both theories as indisputable facts. The two theories are Albert Einstein's Theories of Relativity and the collective theories of Quantum Mechanics which relies heavily on statistical deter- mination as its formal basis. Both of these theories provide accurate predictions for their respective do- mains, relativistic theories bode well with very large scales, at the stellar level, while quantum theories are favored for the very small, at the atomic level.

Kai S Lam