Effects of quantum mechanical identity in particle scattering: experimental observations (and lack thereof)

Abstract

On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Ernest Rutherford's birth I discuss how indistinguishabilty profoundly affects the collisions of identical particles. In the case of a Coulombic interaction this leads to a dramatic modification of Rutherford's famous scattering formula as predicted by Nevill Mott. An even more extreme example is provided by a low-energy scattering experiment of identical fermions interacting via a short range potential. Here indistinguishability will make or break the observation of scattered particles. This fascinating phenomenon has been observed using a laser-based collider for ultracold fermionic potassium atoms.