An Awkward Symmetry: The Tension between Particle Ontologies and Permutation Invariance
نویسندگان
چکیده
Physical theories continue to be interpreted in terms of particles. The idea of a particle required modification with the advent of quantum theory, but remains central to scientific explanation. Particle ontologies also have the virtue of explaining basic epistemic features of the world, and so remain appealing for the scientific realist. However, particle ontologies are untenable when coupled with the empirically necessary postulate of permutation invariance—the claim that permuting the roles of particles in a representation of a physical state results in a representation of the same physical state. I demonstrate that any theory which is permutation invariant in this sense is incompatible with a particle ontology.
منابع مشابه
Calculations of Dihedral Groups Using Circular Indexation
In this work, a regular polygon with $n$ sides is described by a periodic (circular) sequence with period $n$. Each element of the sequence represents a vertex of the polygon. Each symmetry of the polygon is the rotation of the polygon around the center-point and/or flipping around a symmetry axis. Here each symmetry is considered as a system that takes an input circular sequence and g...
متن کاملHow Symmetry Undid the Particle a Demonstration of the Incompatibility of Particle Interpretations and Permutation Invariance
متن کامل
Reparametrization invariance: a gauge-like symmetry of ultrametrically organised states
The reparametrization transformation between ultrametrically organised states of replicated disordered systems is explicitly defined. The invariance of the longitudinal free energy under this transformation, i.e. reparametrization invariance, is shown to be a direct consequence of the higher level symmetry of replica equivalence. The double limit of infinite step replica symmetry breaking and n...
متن کاملReduction of Differential Equations by Lie Algebra of Symmetries
The paper is devoted to an application of Lie group theory to differential equations. The basic infinitesimal method for calculating symmetry group is presented, and used to determine general symmetry group of some differential equations. We include a number of important applications including integration of ordinary differential equations and finding some solutions of partial differential equa...
متن کاملSymmetries and Paraparticles as a Motivation for Structuralism
This paper develops an analogy proposed by Stachel between general relativity (GR) and quantum mechanics (QM) as regards permutation invariance. Our main idea is to overcome Pooley’s criticism of the analogy by appeal to paraparticles. In GR the equations are (the solution space is) invariant under diffeomorphisms permuting spacetime points. Similarly, in QM the equations are invariant under pa...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
عنوان ژورنال:
دوره شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2010