Pauli and the Spin-Statistics Theorem

Ian Duck, E. C. G. [George] Sudarshan [editors]

ISBN 10: 9810231148 / ISBN 13: 9789810231149

Published by World Scientific, 1998

About this Item

First reprint, 1998. Black cloth boards with white lettering. Interior is clean and unmarked. Dust jacket shows slight wear along top edge; in an archival mylar sleeve. Includes bibliographical references and index. x + 512 pages. From the introduction: ''We have long believed that one learns best from the original founders of a subject, in spite of the fact that first papers are frequently difficult and obscure. There is also the problem many of these source papers are inaccessible to those who are not fluent in German. We set out to collect key papers leading to the Spin-Statistics Theorem, in one place, in English, in chronological order, in a unified modern notation, with what clarification and explanation we could offer, and edited with as close a focus on the chosen subject as understanding would allow. In the following chapters we examine in detail the genesis of the ideas essential to the discussion of the Spin-Statistics Theorem. These include the Pauli Exclusion Principle, and the discoveries of electron spin, quantum statistics, wave function symmetrization, field theory, anticommutation relations, and the quantization of fields." ''FINAL SUMMARY: For sixty years, following the direction set forth by Pauli, people have struggled to understand the spin-statistics as the consequence of consistency requirements dictated by relativistic quantum field theory. This struggle has been particularly frustrating and exclusionary for the vast majority who have no other need for relativistic quantum field theory, and are deterred from learning it for this sole purpose, or from mastering the further arcana of the Hall-Wightman theorem. Even the vast majority of practicing physicists have been excluded from an intimate understanding of, and required to take on faith, what is surely one of the most important facts of our world. We simplify the problem in two steps. The first step is Sudarshan's demonstration that rotational invariance of the Lagrangian requires the Spin-Statistics Theorem in an apparently non-relativistic way, which does however still depend implicitly on positivity requirement of relativistic quantum field theory. In the second step, finally, we make the spin statistics understandable by reversing the question to that of the statistics-spin connection. We show that ordinary classical commuting Bose-Einstein number-valued oscillators embed naturally into relativistic quantum field theoretic Klein-Gordon fields of spin-0; conversely, not-so-ordinary classical anticommuting Fermi-Dirac Grassmann-valued oscillators embed naturally into relativistic quantum field theoretic Dirac fields with spin-1/2.'' Ian Morley Duck (1933-2019) earned his Ph.D. (theoretical physics) from Caltech in 1961, and served as Professor of Physics at Rice University, Houston, from 1963 to 2008, specializing in nuclear and particle physics and the foundations of quantum mechanics. E. C. George Sudarshan (1931-2018) was an award-winning theoretical physicist and a professor at the University of Texas. He was a professor at Syracuse University from 1964-69), and Professor of Physics at the University of Texas from 1969 on. He was passed over for the Physics Nobel Prize on more than one occasion, including, controversially, in 2005 when his contributions to a quantum representation of coherent light, later known as Glauber-Sudarshan representation, were ignored.

Seller Inventory # 016245

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Pauli and the Spin-Statistics Theorem
• Publisher: World Scientific
• Publication Date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9810231148
• ISBN 13: 9789810231149
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Weight: 2 ounces

About this title

Synopsis

This book makes broadly accessible an understandable proof of the infamous spin-statistics theorem. This widely known but little-understood theorem is intended to explain the fact that electrons obey the Pauli exclusion principle. This fact, in turn, explains the periodic table of the elements and their chemical properties. Therefore, this one simply stated fact is responsible for many of the principal features of our universe, from chemistry to solid state physics to nuclear physics to the life cycle of stars. In spite of its fundamental importance, it is only a slight exaggeration to say that "everyone knows the spin-statistics theorem, but no one understands it". This book simplifies and clarifies the formal statements of the theorem, and also corrects the invariably flawed intuitive explanations which are frequently put forward.The book will be of interest to many practising physicists in all fields who have long been frustrated by the impenetrable discussions on the subject which have been available until now. It will also be accessible to students at an advanced undergraduate level as an introduction to modern physics based directly on the classical writings of the founders, including Pauli, Dirac, Heisenberg, Einstein and many others.

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