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Quantal statistical phase factors accompanying fermion inter-changes

Boyan Obreshkov

Published Mar 30, 2009• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

It is shown that effects of particle identity entail reduction in the number of orbital degrees-of-freedom in non-relativistic 2-particle systems from 6 to 5. This effect of redundancy in description of orbital motion is found to be in correspondence to multiplicative phase factor $(-1)^{2s}$ which accompany interchange of the two particles, where $s$ is the spin of one particle.

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The quantum mechanics of two identical particles with spin S in three dimensions is reformulated by employing not the usual fixed spin basis but a transported spin basis that exchanges the spins along with the positions. Such a basis, required to be smooth and parallel-transported, can be generated by an ‘exchange rotation’ operator resembling angular momentum. This is constructed from the four harmonic oscillators from which the two spins are made according to Schwinger's scheme. It emerges automatically that the phase factor accompanying spin exchange with the transported basis is just the Pauli sign, that is (−1)2S. Singlevaluedness of the total wavefunction, involving the transported basis, then implies the correct relation between spin and statistics. The Pauli sign is a geometric phase factor of topological origin, associated with non-contractible circuits in the doubly connected (and non-orientable) configuration space of relative positions with identified antipodes. The theory extends to more than two particles.

Proceedings of the Royal Society A Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences•Aug 8, 1997•119 citations
It is shown that effects of particle identity entail reduction in the number of orbital degrees-of-freedom in non-relativistic 2-particle systems from 6 to 5. This effect of redundancy in description of orbital motion is found to be in correspondence to multiplicative phase factor (−1)2s(-1)^{2s}(−1)2s which accompany interchange of the two particles, where sss is the spin of one particle.
It is shown that effects of particle identity entail reduction in the number of orbital degrees-of-freedom in non-relativistic 2-particle systems from 6 to 5. This effect of redundancy in description of orbital motion is found to be in correspondence to multiplicative phase factor (−1)2s(-1)^{2s}(−1)2s which accompany interchange of the two particles, where sss is the spin of one particle.
It is shown that effects of particle identity entail reduction in the number of orbital degrees-of-freedom in non-relativistic 2-particle systems from 6 to 5. This effect of redundancy in description of orbital motion is found to be in correspondence to multiplicative phase factor (−1)2s(-1)^{2s}(−1)2s which accompany interchange of the two particles, where sss is the spin of one particle.
The wave function of a system containing identical particles takes into account the relationship between a particle's intrinsic spin and its statistical property. Specifically, the exchange of two identical particles having odd-half-integer spin results in the wave function changing sign, whereas the exchange of two identical particles having integer spin is accompanied by no such sign change. This is embodied in a term (-1)(2s), which has the value +1 for integer s (bosons), and -1 for odd-half-integer s (fermions), where s is the particle spin. All of this is well-known. In the nonrelativistic limit, a detailed consideration of the exchange of two identical particles shows that exchange is accompanied by a 2pi reorientation that yields the (-1)(2s) term. The same bookkeeping is applicable to the relativistic case described by the proper orthochronous Lorentz group, because any proper orthochronous Lorentz transformation can be expressed as the product of spatial rotations and a boost along the direction of motion.
The phase factor (−1)2s(-1)^{2s}(−1)2s that features in the exchange symmetry for identical spin-sss fermions or bosons contributes to but is not identical to the phase factor one may observe when one actually exchanges two such particles. The observable phase contains {\em single-particle} geometric and dynamical phases as well, induced by both spin and spatial exchange transformations. Extending the analysis to (abelian) anyons by incorporating the Aharonov-Bohm effect shows that the topological phase two anyons pick up under an interchange is at bottom a single-particle effect, in contrast to the fermion/boson exchange phase factor (−1)2s(-1)^{2s}(−1)2s, which is a two-particle effect.
Particles that must have symmetric states are called bosons; pions, photons, and He 4+ nuclei are such particles. Particles whose states must be ant symmetric under interchange of the two particles are called fermions; electrons, protons, and neutrons are examples of fermions. Particles with integer spin are always bosons while particles with half-integer spin are always fermions. It is not at all obvious from the point of view of non-relativistic quantum mechanics why this relation, called the connection between spin and statistics, is true, and one must look within the framework of relativistic quantum field theory to understand it fully theoretically. Effects of identity can also show up in the scattering of seemingly non-identical particles. The elastic scattering of a He 4+ ion from a He 4+ atom, both are in their ground states. These are certainly distinguishable particles, since they have different charges. Particle identity also plays an important role in determining the properties of molecules made of identical atoms.
The quantum mechanics of two identical particles with spin S in three dimensions is reformulated by employing not the usual fixed spin basis but a transported spin basis that exchanges the spins along with the positions. Such a basis, required to be smooth and parallel-transported, can be generated by an ‘exchange rotation’ operator resembling angular momentum. This is constructed from the four harmonic oscillators from which the two spins are made according to Schwinger's scheme. It emerges automatically that the phase factor accompanying spin exchange with the transported basis is just the Pauli sign, that is (−1)2S. Singlevaluedness of the total wavefunction, involving the transported basis, then implies the correct relation between spin and statistics. The Pauli sign is a geometric phase factor of topological origin, associated with non-contractible circuits in the doubly connected (and non-orientable) configuration space of relative positions with identified antipodes. The theory extends to more than two particles.