Small Violations of Statistics

Abstract

There are two motivations to consider statistics that are neither Bose nor Fermi: (1) to extend the framework of quantum theory and of quantum field theory, and (2) to provide a quantitative measure of possible violations of statistics. After reviewing tests of statistics for various particles, and types of statistics that are neither Bose nor Fermi, I discuss quons, particles characterized by the parameter $q$, which permit a smooth interpolation between Bose and Fermi statistics; $q=1$ gives bosons, $q=-1$ gives fermions. The new result of this talk is work by Robert C. Hilborn and myself that gives a heuristic argument for an extension of conservation of statistics to quons with trilinear couplings of the form $\bar{f}fb$, where $f$ is fermion-like and $b$ is boson-like. We showed that $q_f^2=q_b$. In particular, we related the bound on $q_γ$ for photons to the bound on $q_e$ for electrons, allowing the very precise bound for electrons to be carried over to photons. An extension of our argument suggests that all particles are fermions or bosons to high precision.