Are All Particles Identical? · HackerPapers discussions

Are All Particles Identical? — mentioned by jostylr

Mon, 17 Mar 2025 03:29:54 GMT

Bohmian mechanics is based on the idea that we perceive stuff to be in a certain position in a single reality because there is a correspondence to stuff being actually there. That's nice. If the particles are surfing a wave and not impacting it, so be it. It is also rather nice to think of the particles as just being points in space with nothing else associated with them; an electron is just an electron because the portion of the wave function that is relevant and guiding it is the electron portion; see a paper from 2004 entitled "Are all particles identical?" [1] (I am a coauthor on that).…

Paper and discussion history. A mention is not an endorsement.

Are All Particles Identical? — mentioned by jostylr

Mon, 22 Jul 2019 21:30:50 GMT

> "points on the screen" is the only reason we have to believe in particles There are also the cloud chamber paths. But more generally, I would say most people's experiences correspond closer to stuff having well-defined localization which is more in the ballpark of particles than waves. Waves spread. Also, this is not a matter of what is true, but rather what is plausible. A natural conclusion which works would be a good candidate to continue to pursue. My opposition to the paper cited was simply that it wants to argue that everything is a wave, something which seems to be an assumption not…

Paper and discussion history. A mention is not an endorsement.