Quantum Institute: Visitor Schedule

The Quantum Lunch is regularly held on Thursdays in the Theoretical Division Conference Room, TA-3, Building 123, Room 121.

The organizing committee includes Ryan O. Behunin (T-4 & CNLS), Malcolm Boshier (P-21), Adolfo del Campo (T-4 & CNLS), Michael Di Rosa (C-PCS), Ivar Martin (T-4), Changhyun Ryu (P-21), Rolando D. Somma (T-4), Christopher Ticknor (T-1), and Wojciech H. Zurek (T-4).

For more information, or to nominate a speaker, contact Adolfo del Campo.

To add your name to the Quantum Lunch email list, contact Ellie Vigil.

Thursday, November 29, 2012
12:30 PM - 2:00 PM

Speaker: Lawrence Schulman (Clarkson University)

Technical Host: Adolfo del Campo

TOPIC: Relative momentum for identical particles

Abstract
Although one can give physical meaning to the relative momentum of a pair of identical particles, there has been no mathematical object that conveys that meaning. Because of the equivalence of the particles, such an object cannot be an ordinary vector. Moreover, when an appropriate Hilbert space operator is defined, it does not fit into von Neumann's scheme featuring self-adjointness. As far as I know, there is no physics at stake here; rather the concern is identifying the mathematical objects that can characterize the physical world.