The Pauli exclusion principle and the foundations of chemistry

Eric R. Scerri

Michela Massimi

V. P. Vasiliev, Russell Moon

Ilya G. Kaplan

This is the first scientific book devoted to the Pauli Exclusion Principle, which is a fundamental principle of quantum mechanics and is permanently applied in chemistry, physics, molecular biology and in physical astronomy. However, while the principle has been studied for more than 90 years, rigorous theoretical foundations still have not been established and many unsolved problems remain. Following an introduction and historical survey, this book discusses the still unresolved questions around this fundamental principle. For instance, why, according to the Pauli Exclusion Principle, are only symmetric and antisymmetric permutation symmetries for identical particles realized, while the Schrödinger equation is satisfied by functions with any permutation symmetry? Chapter 3 covers possible answers to this, while chapter 4 presents effective and elegant methods for finding the Pauli-allowed states in atomic, molecular and nuclear spectroscopy. Chapter 5 discusses parastatistics and fractional statistics, demonstrating that the quasiparticles in a periodical lattice, including excitons and magnons, are obeying modified parafermi statistics. With detailed appendices, The Pauli Exclusion Principle: Origin, Verifications and Applications is intended as a self-sufficient guide for graduate students and academic researchers in the fields of quantum mechanics, theoretical chemistry, physics, and applied mathematics. It will be a valuable resource for any reader interested in the foundations of quantum mechanics and its applications in areas such as atomic and molecular spectroscopy, spintronics, molecular biology, and applied fields of quantum information.

Ilya G. Kaplan

Abstract General ideas, on which the quantum chemistry without spin is based, are discussed. Three important applications of quantum chemistry without spin are presented in detail: (1) the methods for finding the molecular spin‐multiplets allowed by the Pauli principle; (2) the symmetry properties of the electron density that determines the Kohn‐Sham equations in the density functional theory; and (3) the foundations of the Pauli principle. In particular, it was demonstrated that, on the one hand, the Pauli exclusion principle cannot be derived from other fundamental principles of quantum mechanics; on the other hand, it cannot be considered as a postulate, since all other symmetry options for the total wave function of identical particles, except the one‐dimensional representations, are forbidden. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. This article was published online on 18 June 2012. An error was subsequently identified. This notice is included in the online and print version to indicate that both have been corrected on 25 July 2012.

Ilya G. Kaplan