Philip Koeck said:If one had a high resolution, ultrafast tomographic imaging system that would allow to track every particle in this system and therefore make the particles distinguishable
I am talking about a thought experiment so I don't need to limit myself to what is technically feasible. If one had a sufficiently fast camera, would the act of observing the particles change their equilibrium distribution?PeterDonis said:It wouldn't. You would be making position measurements of particles at very short time intervals, yes; but you would not be able to deduce from this data which particles in the measurements at time ##t## corresponded to which particles in the measurements at time ##t + \epsilon##. When physicists talk about being able to "track" particular particles in measurements (for example, in cloud chambers or bubble chambers), they are talking about cases where there are only a small number of particles that are sufficiently separated spatially to be tracked individually. The system you are talking about does not meet that requirement.
Philip Koeck said:I am talking about a thought experiment so I don't need to limit myself to what is technically feasible.
Bosons are a type of subatomic particle that follow Bose-Einstein statistics, meaning they can occupy the same quantum state. They become distinguishable when they have different quantum numbers, such as spin or charge.
When bosons become distinguishable, they no longer follow Bose-Einstein statistics and instead follow Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics. This means they can no longer occupy the same quantum state and behave more like classical particles.
The behavior of bosons changes from being able to occupy the same quantum state to having to compete for available quantum states. This can lead to a decrease in the overall energy and a decrease in the number of bosons in the ground state.
Yes, bosons can become distinguishable under certain conditions, such as at extremely low temperatures or high densities. In these conditions, bosons will undergo a phase transition and become distinguishable.
The distinguishability of bosons can greatly affect their properties. For example, in a superfluid, the bosons are indistinguishable and can flow without any resistance. However, if the bosons become distinguishable, the superfluid behavior will be disrupted and the material may become more resistive.