Published November 1, 2009 | Version v1
Journal article

The connection between spin and statistics

Creators

  • 1. Departamento de Fisica Teorica, Universidad de Zaragoza E - 50 009, Zaragoza (Spain)

Description

After some brief historical remarks we recall the first demonstration of the Spin-Statistics theorem by Pauli, and some further developments, like Streater-Wightman's, in the axiomatic considerations. Sudarshan's short proof then follows by considering only the time part of the kinetic term in the lagrangian: the identity SU(2)=Sp(1,C) is crucial for the argument. Possible generalization to arbitrary dimensions are explored, and seen to depend crucially on the type of spinors, obeying Bott's periodicity 8. In particular, it turns out that for space dimentions (7, 8, or 9) modulo 8, the conventional result does not automatically hold: there can be no Fermions in these dimensions.

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/196/1/012011

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Journal of Physics. Conference Series (Online)
Journal Volume
196
Journal Issue
1
Journal Page Range
[8 p.]
ISSN
1742-6596

Conference

Title
Seven science quests
Acronym
Sudarshan conference
Dates
6-7 Nov 2006
Place
Austin, TX (United States)

INIS

Country of Publication
United Kingdom
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
42065830
Subject category
S72: PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS; S71: CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS;
Resource subtype / Literary indicator
Conference
Descriptors DEI
FERMIONS; LAGRANGIAN FUNCTION; M-THEORY; PERIODICITY; QUANTUM MECHANICS; SO GROUPS; SPIN; SPINORS; STATISTICS; SU-2 GROUPS; SUPERSTRING THEORY; TENSOR FIELDS; V-A THEORY
Descriptors DEC
ANGULAR MOMENTUM; FUNCTIONS; LIE GROUPS; MATHEMATICS; MECHANICS; M-THEORY; PARTICLE PROPERTIES; STRING THEORY; SU GROUPS; SYMMETRY GROUPS; VARIATIONS