The problem of entanglement of indistinguishable particles: A new approach

OLIMPIA LOMBARDI

Valparaíso

Encuentro; Charla invitada: Coloquio del Instituto de Física; 2022

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso

By contrast to the Hilbert space formalism ofquantum mechanics, in the algebraic formalism a quantum system is representedby an algebra of observables and states are functionals on that algebra. Ifthis mathematical priority of observables on states is transposed to theontological domain, the result is an ontology whose primary items are propertiesand relations, and systems are bundles of properties. This kind of ontology hasbeen proposed in previous works, underlining theadvantages of this picture to deal with the main ontological challenges ofquantum mechanics: contextuality, non-locality, and indistinguishability.In this talk I will focus on the problemof the definition of entanglement in the case of indistinguishability in thelight of an ontology of properties, lacking the ontological category of particle.The goal will be to show that this approach offers a natural solution to the problem,based on conceiving indistinguishability from a new perspective.