Questions tagged [pauli-exclusion-principle]
The Pauli exclusion principle states that two identical fermions, (so with half-integer spin) cannot occupy the same quantum state simultaneously, and thus share all of their quantum numbers. Also use for structure and classification schemes involving antisymmetry.
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Do Helium-4 atoms behave like photons?
I know that the Helium-4 atom is a boson. Does this mean that, like photons, many Helium-4 atoms can be placed at the same point in space?
How its possible? It includes fermions (Protons, Neutrons, ...
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Why are orbitals are stable even though they have wierd shapes?
I'm curious to know about why are they stable, let's talk about $p$-orbital , $p$-orbital is dumbbell shaped shouldn't electrons just fall into the nucleus because we need a centrifugal force to ...
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Pauli exclusion principle and van der Waals force
On the Wikipedia article on van der Waals force, one of the contributions to intermolecular forces is
A repulsive component resulting from the Pauli exclusion principle that prevents close contact of ...
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Scalar QED atoms - will they pass through each other?
Atoms generally do not pass through each other. This is usually attributed to the Pauli exclusion principal between the electrons (see links below).
If the electrons and nucleons were switched with ...
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Why don't electrons occupy infinite degenerate states with the same energy?
I have a question about the degeneracy of energy levels in atoms and the Pauli exclusion principle.
I understand that, according to the Pauli exclusion principle, each orbital can host a maximum of ...
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What's the relationship between wavefunction (anti-)symmetrization and entanglement? [duplicate]
Wavefunction symmetrization for bosons, or antisymmetrization for fermions, renders the wavefunction no longer a simple tensor product, i.e. it is no longer separable. This is the same thing that ...
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Is indistinguishability required for the stability of matter?
Classically, it is well-known that a charge-neutral system of electrons and nuclei is thermodynamically unstable. In simplistic terms, nothing in classical mechanics prevents electrons from binding ...
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Why do valence electrons not push each other away?
I asked my physics teacher why two electrons come in pairs and not push each other away as you would expect from negative charges.
He said that according to the Pauli exclusion principle, there are a ...
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Is a fermionic boson possible?
We know that bosons need an overall symmetric wavefunction. So is it possible for a boson to have an anti-symmetric spatial wavefunction and an anti-symmetric spin wavefunction? Such that upon ...
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A confusion: Why are composite bosons possible?
I am not a physicist, but trying to understand the standard model to some extent. My understanding is that the essential property of Bosons and Fermions is that two distinct Bosons can occupy the same ...
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Multiple excitations of composite bosons?
Fundamental bosons, which are the mediators of the Standard Model interactions, are permitted to have multiple excitations with the same quantum number. Fermions, on the other hand, obey the Pauli ...
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How do I calculate the ground state energy of a number of protons in a 3D potential well?
I came up with a question in a previous physics exam of my professor that I for some reason can't seem to be able to answer, and I'd really appreciate some help in case he gives me the same question ...
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Pauli exclusion principle in case of the $H_2$ molecule
Why do electrons in an $H_2$ molecule have opposite spins, while protons do not necessarily exhibit this behavior? Considering that both are fermions, shouldn't they both adhere to the Pauli exclusion ...
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Question about the wavefunctions of a system of non-identical fermions
If one interchanges two identical fermions in the wavefunction of a $N$-particle system, the total wavefunction changes by a sign i.e., the total wavefunction should be antisymmetric under the ...
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Why does the 'exchange interaction' in ferromagnetism favour parallel spins of electrons? Shouldn't the pauli exclusion principle hold?
I am trying to grasp the concept of the "exchange interaction" in ferromagnetism, specifically why it favors the parallel alignment of electron spins. Intuitively, one might expect the Pauli ...
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