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arXiv:math-ph/0302037 · Journal of Mathematical Physics

Quantum indistinguishability from general representations of SU(2n)

J. M. Harrison, J. M. Robbins

Published Mar 17, 2004• 4 citations

Abstract

A treatment of the spin-statistics relation in nonrelativistic quantum mechanics due to Berry and Robbins [Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A 453, 1771–1790 (1997)] is generalized within a group-theoretical framework. The construction of Berry and Robbins is reformulated in terms of certain locally flat vector bundles over n-particle configuration space. It is shown how families of such bundles can be constructed from irreducible representations of the group SU(2n). The construction of Berry and Robbins, which leads to a definite connection between spin and statistics (the physically correct connection), is shown to correspond to the completely symmetric representations. The spin-statistics connection is typically broken for general SU(2n) representations, which may admit, for a given value of spin, both Bose and Fermi statistics, as well as parastatistics. The determination of the allowed values of the spin and statistics reduces to the decomposition of certain zero-weight representations of a (generalized) Weyl group of SU(2n). A formula for this decomposition is obtained using the Littlewood–Richardson theorem for the decomposition of representations of U(m+n) into representations of U(m)×U(n).

DOI: 10.1063/1.1666979

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A treatment of the spin-statistics relation in nonrelativistic quantum mechanics due to Berry and Robbins [Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A 453, 1771–1790 (1997)] is generalized within a group-theoretical framework. The construction of Berry and Robbins is reformulated in terms of certain locally flat vector bundles over n-particle configuration space. It is shown how families of such bundles can be constructed from irreducible representations of the group SU(2n). The construction of Berry and Robbins, which leads to a definite connection between spin and statistics (the physically correct connection), is shown to correspond to the completely symmetric representations. The spin-statistics connection is typically broken for general SU(2n) representations, which may admit, for a given value of spin, both Bose and Fermi statistics, as well as parastatistics. The determination of the allowed values of the spin and statistics reduces to the decomposition of certain zero-weight representations of a (generalized) Weyl group of SU(2n). A formula for this decomposition is obtained using the Littlewood–Richardson theorem for the decomposition of representations of U(m+n) into representations of U(m)×U(n).

Using the method of canonical group quantization, we construct the angular momentum operators associated to configuration spaces with the topology of (i) a sphere and (ii) a projective plane. In the first case, the angular momentum operators derived this way are the quantum version of Poincaré's vector, i.e., the physically correct angular momentum operators for an electron coupled to the field of a magnetic monopole. In the second case, the operators one obtains represent the angular momentum operators of a system of two indistinguishable spin zero quantum particles in three spatial dimensions. The relevance of the proposed formalism for the progress in our understanding of the spin–statistics connection in nonrelativistic quantum mechanics is discussed. Introduction The connection between the spin of quantum particles and the statistics they obey is a remarkable example of a simply stated physical fact without the recognition of which many physical phenomena (ranging from the stability of matter and the electronic configuration of atoms to Bose–Einstein condensation and superconductivity) would not have an explanation. Nevertheless, the simplicity of the assertion “integer spin particles obey Bose statistics, and half-integer spin particles obey Fermi statistics” stands in bold contrast to its intricate physical origin. Indeed, Pauli's proof of the spin–statistics theorem [Pau40] (improving on earlier work by Fierz [Fie39]), showed that the spin–statistics connection was deeply rooted in relativistic quantum field theory. The path to a rigorous proof of this theorem (from the mathematical point of view) was a long one and involved the efforts of many people (see, e.g., the book by Duck and Sudarshan [DS98b]).

We reconsider the (non-relativistic) quantum theory of indistinguishable particles on the basis of Rieffel’s notion of [Formula: see text]-algebraic (“strict”) deformation quantization. Using this formalism, we relate the operator approach of Messiah and Greenberg (1964) to the configuration space approach pioneered by Souriau (1967), Laidlaw and DeWitt-Morette (1971), Leinaas and Myrheim (1977), and others. In dimension [Formula: see text], the former yields bosons, fermions, and paraparticles, whereas the latter seems to leave room for bosons and fermions only, apparently contradicting the operator approach as far as the admissibility of parastatistics is concerned. To resolve this, we first prove that in [Formula: see text] the topologically non-trivial configuration spaces of the second approach are quantized by the algebras of observables of the first. Secondly, we show that the irreducible representations of the latter may be realized by vector bundle constructions, among which the line bundles recover the results of the second approach. Mathematically speaking, representations on higher-dimensional bundles (which define parastatistics) cannot be excluded, which render the configuration space approach incomplete. Physically, however, we show that the corresponding particle states may always be realized in terms of bosons and/or fermions with an unobserved internal degree of freedom (although based on non-relativistic quantum mechanics, this conclusion is analogous to the rigorous results of the Doplicher–Haag–Roberts analysis in algebraic quantum field theory, as well as to the heuristic arguments which led Gell-Mann and others to qcd (i.e. Quantum Chromodynamics)).

The quantum mechanics of a system of nonrelativistic electrically and magnetically charged particles is formulated by introducing as the classical configuration space a certain U(1) bundle over the set of physical particle configurations. In this way one obtains a well-defined and single-valued classical action; and in the corresponding quantum theory, the origin of half-integral spin and of asymptotic Fermi-Dirac statistics in the description of composite systems of bosons finds its expression in terms of the bundle's structure.