Search for Simplicity: Quantum mechanics and the Pauli principle

D. Baye, M. Dufour, Benjamin Fuks E

Catalina Curceanu, Sergio Bartalucci, S. Bertolucci +21 more

The Pauli exclusion principle (PEP), as a consequence or the spin-statistics connection, is one of the basic principles of the modern physics. Being at the very basis of our understanding of matter, it spurs a lively debate on its possible limits, deeply rooted as it is in the very foundations of Quantum Field Theory. The VIP (VIolation of the Pauli exclusion principle) experiment established the world's best limit on the probability that PEP is violated by electrons, using the method of searching for PEP forbidden atomic transitions in copper. We describe the experimental method and the obtained results; we briefly present future plans to go beyond the actual limit by upgrading the experiment using vetoed new spectroscopic fast Silicon Drift Detectors. We also shortly mention the possibility of using a similar experimental technique to search for possible X-rays generated in the spontaneous collapse models of quantum mechanics.

Salvatore Capozzıello, Wladimir-Georges Boskoff

C Curceanu Petrascu, Sergio Bartalucci, S. Bertolucci +21 more

The Pauli exclusion principle (PEP), consequence of the spin-statistics connection, is one of the basic principles of the modern physics. Being at the very basis of our understanding of matter, as many other fundamental principles it spurs a lively debate on its possible limits, deeply rooted in the very foundations of Quantum Field Theory. Therefore, it is extremely important to test the limits of its validity. Quon theory provides a suitable mathematical framework of possible violation of PEP, where the violation parameter q translates into a probability of violating PEP. The VIP (VIolation of the Pauli exclusion principle) experiment established a new limit on the probability that PEP is violated by electrons, using the method of searching for PEP forbidden atomic transitions in copper. We describe the experimental method, the obtained results, both in terms of the q -parameter from quon theory and as probability of PEP violation, we briefly discuss them and present future plans to go beyond the actual limit by upgrading the experimental setup. We also shortly mention the possibility of using a similar experimental technique to search for eventual X-rays, generated in the spontaneous collapse models in quantum mechanics.

Ilya G. Kaplan

The modern state of the Pauli exclusion principle is shortly discussed. We describe the discovery by Pauli, his principle for electrons, and how it was generalized for all elementary particles in the framework of quantum mechanics. The motivations and theoretical conceptions that induced the experiments for verification of the Pauli exclusion principle are analyzed. The results and methodology of two different types of experiments are discussed: (1) the search of unusual atoms and nuclei in the stable non-Pauli states, and (2) the experiments in which the emitted radiation of non-Pauli transitions is measured. In conclusion, the comments on the discussed experiments that follow from the general quantum mechanical conceptions and group theory are formulated.