The Logic of Identity: Distinguishability and Indistinguishability in Classical and Quantum Physics

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• 作者：Dennis Dieks (1)
  
• 关键词：Indistinguishability ; Gibbs paradox ; Identity ; Identical particles
• 刊名：Foundations of Physics
• 出版年：2014
• 出版时间：December 2014
• 年：2014
• 卷：44
• 期：12
• 页码：1302-1316
• 全文大小：189 KB
• 参考文献：1. Cohen-Tannoudji, C., Diu, B. and Laloe, F.: Quantum Mechanics. Wiley (1992)
  2. Dieks, D., Versteegh, M.A.M.: Identical particles and weak discernibility. Found. Phys. 38, 923-34 (2008) CrossRef
  3. Dieks, D., Lubberdink, A.: How classical particles emerge from the quantum world. Found. Phys. 41, 1051-064 (2011) CrossRef
  4. Dieks, D.: The Gibbs paradox revisited. In: Dieks, D., Gonzalez, W.J., Hartmann, S., Uebel, T., Weber, M. (eds.) Explanation, Prediction, and Confirmation, the Philosophy of Science in a European Perspective, pp. 367-77. Springer, Netherlands (2011) CrossRef
  5. Ehrenfest, P., Trkal, V.: Deduction of the dissociation-equilibrium from the theory of quanta and a calculation of the chemical constant. Proc. K. Akad. van Wet. 23, 162-83 (1921)
  6. Lombardi, O., and Dieks, D.: Particles in a Quantum Ontology of Properties. In: Bigaj, T. and Wüthrich, C. (eds.) Metaphysics in Contemporary Physics, to be published.
  7. Messiah, A.: Quantum Mechanics. North-Holland Publishing Company, Amsterdam (1961)
  8. Saunders, S.: Indistinguishability. In: Batterman, R. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Physics, pp. 340-80. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2013)
  9. Swendsen, R.H.: Statistical mechanics of classical systems with distinguishable particles. J. Stat. Phys. 107, 1143-165 (2002) CrossRef
  10. Swendsen, R.H.: Choosing a definition of entropy that works. Found. Phys. 42, 582-93 (2012) CrossRef
  11. van Kampen, N.G.: The gibbs paradox. In: Parry, W.E. (ed.) Essays in Theoretical Physics, pp. 303-12. Pergamon Press, Oxford (1984) CrossRef
  12. Versteegh, M.A.M., Dieks, D.: The Gibbs paradox and the distinguishability of identical particles. Am. J. Phys. 79, 741-46 (2011) CrossRef
  
• 作者单位：Dennis Dieks (1)
  
  1. Institute for the History and Foundations of Science, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80.010, Utrecht, 3508, TA, The Netherlands
  
• ISSN：1572-9516

文摘

The suggestion that particles of the same kind may be indistinguishable in a fundamental sense, even so that challenges to traditional notions of individuality and identity may arise, has first come up in the context of classical statistical mechanics. In particular, the Gibbs paradox has sometimes been interpreted as a sign of the untenability of the classical concept of a particle and as a premonition that quantum theory is needed. This idea of a ‘quantum connection-stubbornly persists in the literature, even though it has also been criticized frequently. Here we shall argue that although this criticism is justified, the proposed alternative solutions have often been wrong and have not put the paradox in its right perspective. In fact, the Gibbs paradox is unrelated to fundamental issues of particle identity; only distinguishability in a pragmatic sense plays a role (in this we develop ideas of van Kampen [11]), and in principle the paradox always is there as long as the concept of a particle applies at all. In line with this we show that the paradox survives even in quantum mechanics, in spite of the quantum mechanical (anti-)symmetrization postulates.