2004/04/30 by Sheldon Goldstein, James Taylor, James O. Taylor +3 · 2 citations
Arts and Humanities · Physics and Astronomy · #Origins and Evolution of Life #Philosophy and History of Science #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.shpsb.2004.11.005
published as Stud.Hist.Philos.Mod.Phys. 36 (2005) 103-112 · 11 pages LaTeX, no figures; v2 minor changes
openalex publication_date 2005/01/27 · arxiv created 2005/02/03 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
In Bohmian mechanics elementary particles exist objectively, as point particles moving according to a law determined by a wavefunction. In this context, questions as to whether the particles of a certain species are real--questions such as, Do photons exist? Electrons? Or just the quarks?--have a clear meaning. We explain that, whatever the answer, there is a corresponding Bohm-type theory, and no experiment can ever decide between these theories. Another question that has a clear meaning is whether particles are intrinsically distinguishable, i.e., whether particle world lines have labels indicating the species. We discuss the intriguing possibility that the answer is no, and particles are points--just points.