The number operator a*a, where a is an annihilation operator, plays a fundamental role in the statistics of bosons and fermions. However, it is possible for other statistics to have the same number operator. We have previously shown that for one degree of freedom there is a type of statistics having this number operator corresponding to each p which is a positive integer or ∞. Fermions are obtained when p = 1 and bosons are obtained when p = ∞. No state can have more than p particles. In order to treat many degrees of freedom it is necessary to first consider the case of one degree of freedom differently. We show here that for more degrees of freedom a similar situation occurs but for each case other than bosons and fermions there is a positive integer q, such that no state can have more than q particles, even when the number of degrees of freedom is infinite. Thus these statistics are probably not physically realizable except in an approximate way.
We develop a general framework for the statistics of mixed-dimensional excitations subject to intertwined conservation laws, extending the familiar Fermi statistics with conserved particle number. We define statistics microscopically through a \emph{hopping-operator algebra}: a local operator subalgebra (LOsA) generated by operators that locally move or deform excitations while preserving the conservation law. Nontrivial statistics arise when this subalgebra is nontrivial.
We first focus on LOsAs that encode \emph{pointed} conservation laws. These give rise to invertible excitations, whose fusion rules are exactly those of the symmetry defects of a higher group $\cG$. For such $\cG$-conserved excitations in
d-dimensional space, we show that the corresponding LOsA -- and hence the statistics it defines -- is classified by a cohomology class $[ω] \in H^{d+2}(B\cG;\R/\Z)$, where changing
[ω] by a coboundary corresponds merely to a rephasing of the local operators. We further provide a holographic realization: excitations with this prescribed conservation law and statistics live on the boundary of a $\cG$ higher-group gauge theory in
(d+1)-dimensional space, twisted by
[ω].
More generally, non-pointed conservation laws and the associated statistics of non-invertible excitations are defined by a pair: a LOsA together with its excitation-complex representation. This is equivalent to the pair consisting of a LOsA and its Hilbert-space representation, which is the data defining a generalized symmetry. Consequently, non-pointed conservation laws and their statistics in
d-dimensional space are classified by fusion
d-categories, just as generalized symmetries are. The higher-group results above are the fully-pointed special cases of this more general classification.