Abstract
Quantum statistics and non-locality are deeply rooted in quantum mechanics and go beyond our intuition reflected in classical physics. Quantum statistics can be derived using statistical methods for indistinguishable particles - particles of quantum mechanics. Violation of strong locality - colloquially called the ghostly action at a distance - is one of the most amazing properties of nature derived from quantum mechanics. An intriguing question is whether the non-local evolution of indistinguishable particles is needed to reach the equilibrium state given by quantum statistics. Motivated by the above and similar questions, we developed a simple framework that allows us to follow space-time evolution of assembly of particles. It is based on a discrete-time Markov chain on countable space for indistinguishable particles. We summarise well-known and introduced new constraints on the transition matrix that grant space-time symmetries, locality of particle-transport, strong locality, and equilibrium state. Then, within the framework, several important cases are considered. First, we show that the simplest transition matrix leads to equilibrium but violates particle transport and strong localities. Furthermore, we construct a simple matrix that leads to equilibrium obeying particle-transport locality and violating strong locality. This resembles the properties of quantum mechanics. Finally, we demonstrate that it is also possible to reach equilibrium by obeying both particle-transport and strong localities. Thus, within this framework, the violation of a strong locality is not needed to reach the equilibrium of indistinguishable particles. However, to obey strong locality, a complex structure of the transition matrix is needed. In addition, we comment on distinguishable particles and, in particular, show that their evolution seen by an observer blind to particle differences may look like the evolution of indistinguishable particles with the properties of quantum mechanics. We hope that this work may help to study the relation between symmetries, localities and the evolution to equilibrium for indistinguishable and distinguishable particles.
Locality and evolution to equilibrium