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How Classical Particles Emerge From the Quantum World
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  • Open Access
  • Published: 03 November 2010

How Classical Particles Emerge From the Quantum World

  • Dennis Dieks1 &
  • Andrea Lubberdink1 

Foundations of Physics volume 41, pages 1051–1064 (2011)Cite this article

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Abstract

The symmetrization postulates of quantum mechanics (symmetry for bosons, antisymmetry for fermions) are usually taken to entail that quantum particles of the same kind (e.g., electrons) are all in exactly the same state and therefore indistinguishable in the strongest possible sense. These symmetrization postulates possess a general validity that survives the classical limit, and the conclusion seems therefore unavoidable that even classical particles of the same kind must all be in the same state—in clear conflict with what we know about classical particles. In this article we analyze the origin of this paradox. We shall argue that in the classical limit classical particles emerge, as new entities that do not correspond to the “particle indices” defined in quantum mechanics. Put differently, we show that the quantum mechanical symmetrization postulates do not pertain to particles, as we know them from classical physics, but rather to indices that have a merely formal significance. This conclusion raises the question of whether many discussions in the literature about the status of identical quantum particles have not been misguided.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for the History and Foundations of Science, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80.010, 3508 TA, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Dennis Dieks & Andrea Lubberdink

Authors
  1. Dennis Dieks
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  2. Andrea Lubberdink
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Correspondence to Dennis Dieks.

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Open Access This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0), which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.

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Dieks, D., Lubberdink, A. How Classical Particles Emerge From the Quantum World. Found Phys 41, 1051–1064 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-010-9515-2

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  • Received: 01 February 2010

  • Accepted: 22 October 2010

  • Published: 03 November 2010

  • Issue Date: June 2011

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-010-9515-2

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Keywords

  • Identical particles
  • Indistinguishability
  • Emergence
  • Classical limit of quantum mechanics
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