Pauli And The Spin-statistics Theorem

Ian Duck, E C George Sudarshan

• Publisher: World Scientific
• Year: 1998
• Print ISBN:
  9789810231149
  9789810231149
• eBook ISBN:
  9789812817037
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Science General
• Index: Biological Sciences

This book makes broadly accessible an understandable proof of the infamous spin-statistics theorem. This widely known but little-understood theorem is intended to explain the fact that electrons obey the Pauli exclusion principle. This fact, in turn, explains the periodic table of the elements and their chemical properties. Therefore, this one simply stated fact is responsible for many of the principal features of our universe, from chemistry to solid state physics to nuclear physics to the life cycle of stars.In spite of its fundamental importance, it is only a slight exaggeration to say that "everyone knows the spin-statistics theorem, but no one understands it". This book simplifies and clarifies the formal statements of the theorem, and also corrects the invariably flawed intuitive explanations which are frequently put forward.The book will be of interest to many practising physicists in all fields who have long been frustrated by the impenetrable discussions on the subject which have been available until now. It will also be accessible to students at an advanced undergraduate level as an introduction to modern physics based directly on the classical writings of the founders, including Pauli, Dirac, Heisenberg, Einstein and many others.

Table of contents

• Table of Contents
• Authors
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword
• Chapter 1 Discovery of the Exclusion Principle
• Chapter 2 The Discovery of the Electron Spin-1/2
• Chapter 3 Bose-Einstein Statistics
• Chapter 4 Wave Function of State of Many Identical Particles
• Chapter 5 Fermi-Dirac Statistics
• Chapter 6 Dirac's Invention of Quantum Field Theory
• Chapter 7 The Jordan-Wigner Invention of Anticommutation for Fermi-Dirac Fields
• Chapter 8 From Hole Theory to Positrons
• Chapter 9 Pauli-Weisskopf Canonical Quantization of the Klein-Gordon Field
• Chapter 10 Pauli's First Proof of the Spin-Statistics Theorem
• Chapter 11 Fierz's Proof of the Spin-Statistics Theorem
• Chapter 12 Belinfante's Proof of the Spin-Statistics Theorem
• Chapter 13 deWet's Proof Based on Canonical Field Theory
• Chapter 14 Pauli's Proof of the Spin-Statistics Theorem
• Chapter 15 Feynman's Proof and Pauli's Criticism
• Chapter 16 Schwinger's Proof Using Time-Reversal Invariance
• Chapter 17 The Proofs of Lűders and Zumino, and of Burgoyne
• Chapter 18 The Hall-Wightman Theorem
• Chapter 19 Schwinger, Euclidean Field Theory, Source Theory, and the Spin-Statistics Connection
• Chapter 20 Responses to Neuenschwander's Question
• Chapter 21 Overview and Epilog
• Index