Many-particle interference beyond many-boson and many-fermion statistics

TL;DR

This paper reveals that many-particle interference exhibits complex behaviors beyond traditional boson-fermion distinctions, governed by a universal suppression law that can make bosons and fermions display identical interference patterns.

Contribution

It introduces a simple suppression law for many-particle interference in multiport beam splitters, unifying bosonic and fermionic interference signatures.

Findings

Interference patterns are governed by a species-independent suppression law.

Bosons and fermions can exhibit identical interference signatures.

The complexity of many-particle interference exceeds the simple boson-fermion dichotomy.

Abstract

Identical particles exhibit correlations even in the absence of inter-particle interaction, due to the exchange (anti)symmetry of the many-particle wavefunction. Two fermions obey the Pauli principle and anti-bunch, whereas two bosons favor bunched, doubly occupied states. Here, we show that the collective interference of three or more particles leads to a much more diverse behavior than expected from the boson-fermion dichotomy known from quantum statistical mechanics. The emerging complexity of many-particle interference is tamed by a simple law for the strict suppression of events in the Bell multiport beam splitter. The law shows that counting events are governed by widely species-independent interference, such that bosons and fermions can even exhibit identical interference signatures, while their statistical character remains subordinate. Recent progress in the preparation of tailored many-particle states of bosonic and fermionic atoms promises experimental verification and applications in novel many-particle interferometers.