Dieks Dennis
History and Philosophy of Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht,The Netherlands.
Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci. 2023 Sep 18;381(2255):20220107. doi: 10.1098/rsta.2022.0107. Epub 2023 Jul 24.
According to classical physics, are basic constituents of the physical world. Quantum theory is much less friendly to particles; in particular, relativistic quantum field theory (RQFT) creates serious obstacles for the idea that particles are fundamental. Apparently, when moving from the domain of RQFT to that of classical mechanics (CM), particles have to at some stage. It is standard to assume that this emergence has been completed at the level of quantum mechanics, halfway between RQFT and CM, even though particles of the same kind in many-particle quantum mechanics have the curious feature of being 'entities without identity'. Against this 'Received View' about the nature of quantum particles we outline and defend an (AV), in which the emergent character of particles is emphasized. According to this AV, the step to a particle theory has not yet been made in quantum mechanics: conditions have still to be satisfied in order to make the particle concept applicable. If these conditions are met, the quantum particles that emerge are individuals possessing physically defined identities, in stark contrast to what the Received View asserts. We will compare and contrast the two Views, both from a physical and a logical/conceptual point of view. This article is part of the theme issue 'Identity, individuality and indistinguishability in physics and mathematics'.
根据经典物理学，粒子是物理世界的基本组成部分。量子理论对粒子则不那么友好；特别是，相对论量子场论（RQFT）给粒子是基本的这一观点带来了严重障碍。显然，当从RQFT领域转向经典力学（CM）领域时，粒子在某个阶段必须出现。标准的假设是，这种出现已经在量子力学层面完成，量子力学处于RQFT和CM之间的中间位置，尽管多粒子量子力学中同类粒子具有“无身份实体”这种奇特特征。针对这种关于量子粒子本质的“传统观点”，我们概述并捍卫一种替代观点（AV），其中强调了粒子的涌现特征。根据这种AV，在量子力学中尚未迈出走向粒子理论的一步：为了使粒子概念适用，仍需满足一些条件。如果满足这些条件，出现的量子粒子就是具有物理定义身份的个体，这与传统观点所断言的形成鲜明对比。我们将从物理和逻辑/概念两个角度对这两种观点进行比较和对比。本文是主题为“物理学和数学中的身份、个体性与不可区分性”的一部分。
