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Physica Scripta

The Connection between Spin and Statistics

Robert T. Deck, Jearl D. Walker

Published Jan 1, 2001• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

We demonstrate that the exchange of two identical particles can be effected by a rotation of a coordinate system defined by the two particles through an angle π. It is then a consequence of the intimate connection between the generator of a space rotation and the total angular momentum operator, that the effect of the particle exchange on the ket corresponding to the physical system is dependent upon the integer or half-integer character of the particle spins. From this it can be concluded that the connection between spin and statistics that derives from the symmetry of the identical particle system under particle exchange is explained (in the most fundamental way) by the equivalence between the exchange of two identical particles and a rotation in configuration space.

DOI
10.1238/physica.regular.063a00007

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We demonstrate that the exchange of two identical particles can be effected by a rotation of a coordinate system defined by the two particles through an angle π. It is then a consequence of the intimate connection between the generator of a space rotation and the total angular momentum operator, that the effect of the particle exchange on the ket corresponding to the physical system is dependent upon the integer or half-integer character of the particle spins. From this it can be concluded that the connection between spin and statistics that derives from the symmetry of the identical particle system under particle exchange is explained (in the most fundamental way) by the equivalence between the exchange of two identical particles and a rotation in configuration space.
Abstract Two concepts, of fundamental importance to quantum mechanics, will be discussed in this chapter. The first is that of symmetry. Even though the concept of symmetry is familiar in a wide range of natural sciences, the way symmetry constrains the consequences of quantum mechanics is rather subtle and, at the same time, far-reaching. The second is the symmetry property of the states under the exchange of two identical particles. Identical particles with a half-integer spin (fermions) obey the Fermi–Dirac statistics: the wave functions are totally antisymmetric under the exchange of the particles. Identical particles with an integer spin (bosons) are instead subject to the Bose–Einstein statistics. Their wave functions are totally symmetric.
A nonrelativistic proof of the spin-statistics theorem is given in terms of the field operators satisfying commutation and anticommutation relations, which are introduced here in the coordinate space as a means to build the permutation symmetry into the brackets of identical particles. An eigenvalue problem of a πππ-rotation for a product of two annihilation operators is combined with an analysis on its rotational property to prove the connection that the field operators for integral-spin and half-integral-spin particles obey the commutation and anticommutation relations, respectively.
The connection between the intrinsic angular momentum (spin) of particles and quantum statistics is established by considering the response of identical particles to a common background radiation field. For this purpose, the Hamiltonian analysis previously performed in stochastic electrodynamics to derive the quantum description of a one-particle system is extended to a system of two identical bound particles subject to the same field. Depending on the relative phase of the response of the particles to a common field mode, two types of particles are distinguished by their symmetry or antisymmetry with respect to particle exchange. While any number of identical particles responding in phase can occupy the same energy state, there can only be two particles responding in antiphase. The calculation of bipartite correlations between the response functions reveals maximum entanglement as a consequence of the parallel response of the particles to the common field. The introduction of an internal rotation parameter leads to a direct link between spin and statistics and to a physical rationale for the Pauli exclusion principle.
It is shown that the symmetry under parity of the wavefunctions of two identical particles with an arbitrary spin sss in three spatial dimensions accounts for the appropriate wavefunction exchange statistics under the permutations of particles. The standard properties of the angular momentum in non-relativistic quantum mechanics account for the sign factor (−1)2s(-1)^{2s}(−1)2s that the wavefunctions acquire under the permutation of coordinates of the two particles, without any additional requirements, directly relating spin and the particle exchange statistics in the non-relativistic context.
A simple demonstration of the spin-statistics connection is presented. The effect of exchange and space inversion operators on two-particle states is reviewed. The connection follows directly from successive application of these operations to the two-particle wave function for identical particles in an s-state, evaluated at spatial coordinates ±x\pm x±x, but at equal time, \emph{i.e.}, at spacelike interval.
In classical physics, the question whether there are subsets of identical particles is not particularly interesting. After all, whether the particles are identical or not, we can always track each of them at any time. As we shall see, in quantum mechanics identical particles are indistinguishable because we cannot track trajectories, and this fact induces some important symmetry properties on the total wave function describing the system of particles under consideration. Generally speaking, a symmetry is an effect of an invariance, that is, the system does not change if one effects certain transformations (see Ch. 8). In this case, the system is not modified under exchange of two identical particles. Moreover, such a symmetry yields a most interesting connection between spin and statistics. After a short introduction to the significance of statistics in quantum mechanics (in Sec. 7.1), we define the permutation operator and discuss the symmetry properties of the wave function of N identical particles (Sec. 7.2). In Sec. 7.3 we show that quantum particles, differently from classical particles (that obey the Maxwell–Boltzmann statistics), may be subject to two different statistics, namely the Fermi–Dirac statistics for fermions and the Bose–Einstein statistics for bosons. In Sec. 7.4 we treat the so-called exchange interaction and, finally, in Sec. 7.5 we consider some applications of the two statistics. Statistics and quantum mechanics Identical particles are those particles whose Hamiltonian is symmetric under exchange of one particle with the other.