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  1. Identity and individuality in quantum theory.Steven French - 2008 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
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  • (1 other version)The Role of Reconstruction in the Elucidation of Quantum Theory.Philip Goya - 2023 - In Philipp Berghofer & Harald A. Wiltsche (eds.), Phenomenology and Qbism: New Approaches to Quantum Mechanics. New York, NY: Routledge.
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  • Synchronic and diachronic identity for elementary particles.Tomasz Bigaj - 2020 - European Journal for Philosophy of Science 10 (3):1-17.
    The main focus of this paper is on the notion of transtemporal identity applied to quantum particles. I pose the question of how the symmetrization postulate with respect to instantaneous states of particles of the same type affects the possibility of identifying interacting particles before and after their interaction. The answer to this question turns out to be contingent upon the choice between two available conceptions of synchronic individuation of quantum particles that I call the orthodox and heterodox approaches. I (...)
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  • Multiplicity and indiscernibility.Adrian Heathcote - 2020 - Synthese 198 (9):8779-8808.
    The indistinguishability of bosons and fermions has been an essential part of our ideas of quantum mechanics since the 1920s. But what is the mathematical basis for this indistinguishability? An answer was provided in the group representation theory that developed alongside quantum theory and quickly became a major part of its mathematical structure. In the 1930s such a complex and seemingly abstract theory came to be rejected by physicists as the standard functional analysis picture presented by John von Neumann took (...)
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  • (1 other version)Identical Quantum Particles as Distinguishable Objects.Dennis Dieks & Andrea Lubberdink - 2020 - Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 53 (3):1-16.
    According to classical physics particles are basic building blocks of the world. These classical particles are distinguishable objects, individuated by unique combinations of physical properties. By contrast, in quantum mechanics the received view is that particles of the same kind are physically indistinguishable from each other and lack identity. This doctrine rests on the quantum mechanical symmetrization postulates together with the “factorist” assumption that each single particle is represented in exactly one factor space of the tensor product Hilbert space of (...)
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  • On discernibility in symmetric languages: the case of quantum particles.Tomasz Bigaj - 2020 - Synthese 198 (9):8485-8502.
    In this paper I consider the question of whether absolute discernibility is attainable in symmetric languages. Simon Saunders has proven that all facts expressible in first-order language with identity can be equivalently stated within its symmetric sublanguage. I use this result to show specifically how particles of the same type can be absolutely discerned in the permutation-invariant language of the quantum theory of many particles.
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  • On Some Troubles with the Metaphysics of Fermionic Compositions.Tomasz Bigaj - 2016 - Foundations of Physics 46 (9):1168-1184.
    In this paper I discuss some metaphysical consequences of an unorthodox approach to the problem of the identity and individuality of “indistinguishable” quantum particles. This approach is based on the assumption that the only admissible way of individuating separate components of a given system is with the help of the permutation-invariant qualitative properties of the total system. Such a method of individuation, when applied to fermionic compositions occupying so-called GMW-nonentangled states, yields highly implausible consequences regarding the number of distinct components (...)
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  • How to Justify the Symmetrization Postulate in Quantum Mechanics.Tomasz Bigaj - 2022 - Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 53 (3):239-257.
    The aim of this paper is to reconstruct and correct one argument in support of the symmetrization postulate in quantum mechanics. I identify the central premise of the argument as a thesis specifying a particular ontic property of quantum superpositions. The precise form of this thesis depends on some underlying assumptions of a metaphysical character. I compare the exchange degeneracy argument with alternative formal arguments for the symmetrization postulate, and I discuss the role and meaning of labels in the symmetric/antisymmetric (...)
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  • (1 other version)Identical Quantum Particles as Distinguishable Objects.Dennis Dieks & Andrea Lubberdink - 2022 - Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 53 (3):259-274.
    According to classical physics _particles_ are basic building blocks of the world. These classical particles are distinguishable objects, individuated by unique combinations of physical properties. By contrast, in quantum mechanics the received view is that particles of the same kind (“identical particles”) are physically indistinguishable from each other and lack identity. This doctrine rests on the quantum mechanical (anti)symmetrization postulates together with the “factorist” assumption that each single particle is represented in exactly one factor space of the tensor product Hilbert (...)
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  • Entanglement and indistinguishability in a quantum ontology of properties.Sebastian Fortin & Olimpia Lombardi - 2022 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 91 (C):234-243.
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  • Leibniz, Kant, and Referring in the Quantum Domain.Cord Friebe - 2022 - Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 53 (3):275-290.
    The paper addresses the referring problem in quantum mechanics, by spelling out the alternatives with complete or individual concepts, with directly referential labels, and with intuition. The connection between the way of referring and some metaphysical theses about objects will be explained. Then, the paper intends to make plausible that the Kantian way is the best way for the quantum domain, including quantum field theories.
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  • Dissecting weak discernibility of quanta.Tomasz Bigaj - 2015 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 50:43-53.
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  • Leibniz’s Principle, (Non-)Entanglement, and Pauli Exclusion.Cord Friebe - 2024 - Philosophies 9 (2):45.
    Both bosons and fermions satisfy a strong version of Leibniz’s Principle of the Identity of Indiscernibles (PII), and so are ontologically on a par with respect to the PII. This holds for non-entangled, non-product states and for physically entangled states—as it has been established in previous work. In this paper, the Leibniz strategy is completed by including the (bosonic) symmetric product states. A new understanding of Pauli’s Exclusion Principle is provided, which distinguishes bosons from fermions in a peculiar ontological way. (...)
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