{"id":106,"date":"2022-07-04T10:45:30","date_gmt":"2022-07-04T10:45:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/experimentalfrontiers.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=106"},"modified":"2023-02-05T00:04:54","modified_gmt":"2023-02-05T00:04:54","slug":"exactly-the-same","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/experimentalfrontiers\/2022\/07\/04\/exactly-the-same\/","title":{"rendered":"Exactly the same"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is about identical particles, Bosons and Fermions, and why the world seems solid when we kick it and how physics tells us that everything is really one thing.<\/p>\n

Alice and Bob are both people, but you would never confuse them\u2014they\u2019re not identical. \u00a0\u201cIdentical twins\u201d are a lot closer. Some people can\u2019t tell them apart, but their mother can, their spouses can. \u00a0Imagine opening a box from the Acme Ball Bearing Company, picking out two stainless steel balls that look exacly alike. \u00a0You really can\u2019t tell them apart. Maybe looking for pits and scratches with a microscope, or with a scale that weighs accurate to a nanogram you might be able to distinguish them; but even if you couldn\u2019t tell them apart at all, you would always think it\u2019s a meaningful question to ask, \u2018is this one ball number one or ball number two?\u2019<\/p>\n

We think of two electrons or two photons (light particles) with an extension of our common sense from larger objects. \u00a0They have no nicks or scratches, and even the most sensitive measurement apparatus can\u2019t detect a difference in their mass or any other properties. \u00a0But we think of them as distinct in principle.\u00a0 You, me, and the physics professor, we all think that this electron is the one over here, and that is the one over there. \u00a0In fact, micro manipulation technology has allowed us to line up individual atoms in a pattern, and they stay put!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But (you knew there was a \u201cbut\u201d coming after this long-winded explanation of what everyone knows) the formalism of quantum mechanics tells a very different story. \u00a0Actually, it\u2019s two very different stories, very different from what we imagine and very different from one another.\u00a0 These are the stories of Bosons and Fermions.<\/p>\n

Bosons<\/h4>\n

Light is made of photons, which are Bosons. \u00a0The equation that governs the movement of a collection of photons, is explicitly symmetrized to account for the fact that the photons are identical in principle. \u00a0What I mean by \u2018symmetrized\u2019 is that you write down the equation with photon #1 over here and photon #2 over there, then you write the same equation with photon #1 over there and photon #2 over here, you add up the equations and divide by two. \u00a0So, what difference does it make to go through this Chinese fire drill, averaging up the two terms that are really no different from one another? Why bother? Yes it makes a difference, it makes a big difference. Technically, it\u2019s because the wave function for the photons is squared before you evaluate the intensity of the light, so that factor of 2 in the average doesn\u2019t come out in the wash. \u00a0The probability is twice is high for two photons to be coupled together, moving in lockstep, acting like one big photon. And for a million photons, the probability is a million times as big. Once you get a large number of photons all moving in lockstep, the probabilty for the next photon to join them is very high. The upshot is that lasers are possible. Just a tiny crystal and an LED is enough to line up the photons, all moving in lockstep. \u00a0(When I was in college, a laser cost $100,000, but now they\u2019re cheap enough that people buy them just to\u00a0amuse their cats<\/a>.) \u00a0Lasers work because of the way that identical Bosons behave in quantum mechanics.<\/p>\n

Fermions<\/h4>\n

Electrons are Fermions, the opposite of Bosons in quantm lingo. \u00a0Instead of adding up their wave functions and dividing by two, you\u00a0subtract<\/i><\/b>\u00a0them and divide by two.<\/p>\n

[particle #1 here, particle #2 there] \u00a0\u2013\u00a0 [particle #2 here, particle #1 there]<\/p>\n

This minus sign is entirely responsible for the\u00a0illusion of separateness<\/i><\/b>\u00a0which is so deeply embedded in our perception of the physical world. \u00a0It\u2019s because for the special case where \u201chere\u201d and \u201cthere\u201d are the same place, the two terms cancel out and the probability is zero. \u00a0For two Bosons to be in the same place at the same time, the probabiliy is doubled; but for two Fermions, the probability is zero. Never happens.\u00a0 (This is called the Pauli exclusion principle.)\u00a0 And as the two Fermions get too close together, they start to sense this and they get antsy. They can only be brought very close together by giving them a great deal of energy.<\/p>\n

When \u201chere\u201d and \u201cthere\u201d are far apart, we imagine that particle #1 is over here and particle #2 is over there. \u00a0Applying our experience from everyday life, we think of them as separate and distinct, but the QM equations are telling a different story. \u00a0Both electrons are here, and simultaneously both electrons are there, and the two electrons are conspiring to keep a distance between \u201chere\u201d and \u201cthere\u201d \u2014 not because they are different electrons, but precisely because their fates are locked perfectly together in this weird way, with the minus sign.<\/p>\n

So, why is the rock hard when you kick it? \u00a0Maybe you thought that the atoms in your shoe take up space and the atoms in the rock take up space and they can\u2019t be in the same space at the same time. \u00a0That would be wrong. Or maybe you thought the electrons in your shoe have a negative charge and the electrons in the rock have a negative charge, and the two negatives strongly repel each other when they get close together. \u00a0That\u2019s a very educated guess, but it\u2019s also wrong.<\/p>\n

The reason that the electrons in your shoe and the electrons in the rock kick up a fuss when they are in very close proximity is that the electrons in the rock and in your shoe are, at the most fundamental level, the same electrons, part of the same wave function. \u00a0The lowest energy state of that electron pair has two lobes, with empty space between them, and unless you have a whole lot of energy to bring those electrons up to the next higher energy state, they are going to conspire to maintain that empty space between them.<\/p>\n

But there are more than two electrons in the world<\/b><\/p>\n

How would you write the wave function for 3 or 4 or 1080<\/sup>\u00a0electrons? \u00a0This part gets technical, but I\u2019ll write it down for those who find it fun.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s say there are 3 electrons and three different places. \u00a0Call the places One, Two and Three, and call the electrons 1, 2, and 3. \u00a0Then<\/p>\n

One(1)Two(2)Three(3)<\/p>\n

means that the 1st electron is in the first place, the 2nd is in the second place and the 3rd is in the third place. \u00a0There are 5 other possibilities. For example, Electron 1 can be in place two and electron 2 can be in place one. Electrons 1 and 2 have swapped places. \u00a0Every time that happens, there\u2019s a minus sign. If there are an even number of swaps, then there\u2019s a plus sign; odd number of swaps contributes a minus sign. The wave function has a structure like this.<\/p>\n

One(1)Two(2)Three(3) + One(2)Two(3)Three(1) + One(3)Two(1)Three(2)
\n\u2013 One(3)Two(2)Three(1) \u2013 One(2)Two(1)Three(3) \u2013 One(1)Two(3)Three(2)<\/p>\n

Yes, physicists really do work with combinations like this, and they have a name: they\u2019re called\u00a0Slater determinants<\/a>. These algebraic expressions have the property that if the functions One(), Two(), and Three() are well-separated in space then the pluses and the minuses reinforce to produce a large amplitude (probability); but if there is significant overlap, the pluses and minuses tend to cancel so the probability is close to zero.<\/p>\n

With just four electrons, there are 12 positive terms and 12 negative terms. \u00a0The number of plus and minus terms in the Slater determinant increases very rapidly \u2014 I want to say increases exponentially with the number of electrons, but that would be an understatement. \u00a0The number of combinations is much bigger than that. There are 1080<\/sup>\u00a0electrons in the universe and their wave function is a Slater determinant with 1080<\/sup>! terms. \u00a0That\u2019s \u201c1080<\/sup>\u00a0factorial\u201d which is the biggest number you\u2019re ever likely to come across in a discussion of one universe.<\/p>\n

Quiz for the truly nerdy: \u00a0How big a number is 1080<\/sup>\u00a0factorial? \u00a0If you tried to write it down, how many digits would you have to write? Is it bigger or smaller than a\u00a0googol<\/a>?\u00a0 Is it bigger or smaller than a\u00a0googolplex<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We talk about a particular electron being in a particular place, or following a particular orbit. \u00a0But this is a shorthand, a fiction. The truth is that every electron in the universe participates equally in this behavior, whatever it is, and all the electrons are continually checking in with each other and coordinating their behaviors, such that if you shine a light on this place and look, exactly one electron will appear under your flashlight. Every one of the\u00a0 1080<\/sup> electrons in the universe contributes to the probability of your detecting an electron there and then, and no meaning can be attached to the question, \u201cwhich one was it?\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is about identical particles, Bosons and Fermions, and why the world seems solid when we kick it and how physics tells us that everything is really one thing. Alice and Bob are both people, but you would never confuse them\u2014they\u2019re not identical. \u00a0\u201cIdentical twins\u201d are a lot closer. Some people can\u2019t tell them apart, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"yoast_head":"\nExactly the same - Experimental Frontiers, with Josh Mitteldorf<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/experimentalfrontiers\/2022\/07\/04\/exactly-the-same\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Exactly the same\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is about identical particles, Bosons and Fermions, and why the world seems solid when we kick it and how physics tells us that everything is really one thing. Alice and Bob are both people, but you would never confuse them\u2014they\u2019re not identical. \u00a0\u201cIdentical twins\u201d are a lot closer. Some people can\u2019t tell them apart, ... 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The surprising fact that our bodies are genetically programmed to age and to die offers an enormous opportunity for medical intervention. It may be that therapies to slow the progress of aging need not repair or regenerate anything, but only need to interfere with an existing program of self-destruction. Mitteldorf has taught a weekly yoga class for thirty years. He is an advocate for vigorous self care, including exercise, meditation and caloric restriction. After earning a PhD in astrophysicist, Mitteldorf moved to evolutionary biology as a primary field in 1996. He has taught at Harvard, Berkeley, Bryn Mawr, LaSalle and Temple University. He is presently affiliated with MIT as a visiting scholar. In private life, Mitteldorf is an advocate for election integrity as well as public health. He is an avid amateur musician, playing piano in chamber groups, French horn in community orchestras. His two daughters are among the first children adopted from China in the mid-1980s. Much to the surprise of evolutionary biologists, genetic experiments indicate that aging has been selected as an adaptation for its own sake. This poses a conundrum: the impact of aging on individual fitness is wholly negative, so aging must be regarded as a kind of evolutionary altruism. Unlike other forms of evolutionary altruism, aging offers benefits to the community that are weak, and not well focussed on near kin of the altruist. This makes the mechanism challenging to understand and to model. more at http:\\\/\\\/mathforum.org\\\/~josh\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/AgingAdvice.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/experimentalfrontiers\\\/author\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Exactly the same - Experimental Frontiers, with Josh Mitteldorf","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/experimentalfrontiers\/2022\/07\/04\/exactly-the-same\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Exactly the same","og_description":"This is about identical particles, Bosons and Fermions, and why the world seems solid when we kick it and how physics tells us that everything is really one thing. 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The surprising fact that our bodies are genetically programmed to age and to die offers an enormous opportunity for medical intervention. It may be that therapies to slow the progress of aging need not repair or regenerate anything, but only need to interfere with an existing program of self-destruction. Mitteldorf has taught a weekly yoga class for thirty years. He is an advocate for vigorous self care, including exercise, meditation and caloric restriction. After earning a PhD in astrophysicist, Mitteldorf moved to evolutionary biology as a primary field in 1996. He has taught at Harvard, Berkeley, Bryn Mawr, LaSalle and Temple University. He is presently affiliated with MIT as a visiting scholar. In private life, Mitteldorf is an advocate for election integrity as well as public health. He is an avid amateur musician, playing piano in chamber groups, French horn in community orchestras. His two daughters are among the first children adopted from China in the mid-1980s. Much to the surprise of evolutionary biologists, genetic experiments indicate that aging has been selected as an adaptation for its own sake. This poses a conundrum: the impact of aging on individual fitness is wholly negative, so aging must be regarded as a kind of evolutionary altruism. Unlike other forms of evolutionary altruism, aging offers benefits to the community that are weak, and not well focussed on near kin of the altruist. This makes the mechanism challenging to understand and to model. more at http:\/\/mathforum.org\/~josh","sameAs":["http:\/\/AgingAdvice.org"],"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/experimentalfrontiers\/author\/joshmitteldorf\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/experimentalfrontiers\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/07\/One-electron.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/experimentalfrontiers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/experimentalfrontiers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/experimentalfrontiers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/experimentalfrontiers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/experimentalfrontiers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/experimentalfrontiers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/experimentalfrontiers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/experimentalfrontiers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/experimentalfrontiers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/experimentalfrontiers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}