Dieks Dennis
History and Philosophy of Science, Utrecht University, Princetonplein 5, 3584 CC Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Entropy (Basel). 2020 Jan 23;22(2):134. doi: 10.3390/e22020134.
Particles in classical physics are distinguishable objects, which can be picked out individually on the basis of their unique physical properties. By contrast, in the philosophy of physics, the standard view is that particles of the same kind ("identical particles") are completely indistinguishable from each other and lack identity. This standard view is problematic: Particle indistinguishability is irreconcilable not only with the very meaning of "particle" in ordinary language and in classical physical theory, but also with how this term is actually used in the practice of present-day physics. Moreover, the indistinguishability doctrine prevents a smooth transition from quantum particles to what we normally understand by "particles" in the classical limit of quantum mechanics. Elaborating on earlier work, we here analyze the premises of the standard view and discuss an alternative that avoids these and similar problems. As it turns out, this alternative approach connects to recent discussions in quantum information theory.
在经典物理学中，粒子是可区分的物体，可以根据其独特的物理性质逐个挑选出来。相比之下，在物理学哲学中，标准观点是同类粒子（“全同粒子”）彼此完全不可区分且缺乏个体性。这种标准观点存在问题：粒子的不可区分性不仅与日常语言和经典物理理论中“粒子”的含义不相容，也与该术语在当今物理学实践中的实际用法不符。此外，不可区分性学说阻碍了从量子粒子到我们在量子力学经典极限中通常所理解的“粒子”的平稳过渡。在早期工作的基础上，我们在此分析标准观点的前提，并讨论一种避免这些及类似问题的替代观点。事实证明，这种替代方法与量子信息理论中的近期讨论相关。
