The Pauli exclusion principle is a quantum mechanical principle formulated by Wolfgang Pauli in 1925. This principle is significant, because it explains why matter occupies space exclusively for itself and does not allow other material objects to pass through it, while at the same time allowing light and radiation to pass. It states that no two identical fermions may occupy the same quantum state simultaneously. A more rigorous statement of this principle is that, for two identical fermions, the total wave function is anti-symmetric. For electrons in a single atom, it states that no two electrons can have the same four quantum numbers, that is, if n, l, and ml are the same, ms must be different such that the electrons have opposite spins.
The Pauli exclusion principle mathematically follows from applying the rotation operator to two identical particles with half-integer spin.
The Pauli exclusion principle is one of the most important principles in physics, primarily because the three types of particles from which ordinary matter is made—electrons, protons, and neutrons—are all subject to it; consequently all material particles exhibit space-occupying nature. The Pauli exclusion principle underpins many of the characteristic properties of matter, from the large-scale stability of matter to the existence of the periodic table of the elements.
The Pauli exclusion principle follows mathematically from the definition of angular momentum operator (rotation operator) in quantum mechanics. The exchange of particles in the system of two identical particles (which is mathematically equivalent to the rotation of each particle by 180 degrees) results either in the change of the sign of wave function of the system (when the particles have half-integer spin) or not (when the particles have integer spin). Thus, no two identical particles of half integer spin can be at the same quantum place - because the wave function of such system must be equal to its opposite - and the only wave function which satisfies this condition is the zero wave function.
Particles with antisymmetric wave functions are called fermions—and obey the Pauli exclusion principle. Apart from the familiar electron, proton and neutron, these include neutrinos and quarks (from which protons and neutrons are made), as well as some atoms like helium-3. All fermions possess "half-integer spin", meaning that they possess an intrinsic angular momentum whose value is (Planck's constant divided by 2Ï) times a half-integer (1/2, 3/2, 5/2, etc.). In the theory of quantum mechanics, fermions are described by "antisymmetric states", which are explained in greater detail in the article on identical particles.
Particles with integer spin have a symmetric wave function and are called bosons; in contrast to fermions, they may share the same quantum states. Examples of bosons include the photon and the W and Z bosons.
The Pauli exclusion principle can be derived starting from the assumption that a system of particles occupy antisymmetric quantum states. According to the spin-statistics theorem, particles with integer spin occupy symmetric quantum states, and particles with half-integer spin occupy antisymmetric states; furthermore, only integer or half-integer values of spin are allowed by the principles of quantum mechanics.
As discussed in the article on identical particles, an antisymmetric two-particle state in which one particle exists in state (nota) and the other in state is
However, if and are just the same state, the above formula gives the zero set:
This does not represent a valid quantum state, because the state vectors representing quantum states must be normalizable to 1. In other words, we can never find the particles in this system occupying the same quantum state.
The Pauli exclusion principle helps explain a wide variety of physical phenomena. One such phenomenon is the "rigidity" or "stiffness" of ordinary matter (fermions): the principle states that identical fermions cannot be squeezed into each other (cf. Young and bulk moduli of solids), hence our everyday observations in the macroscopic world that material objects collide rather than passing straight through each other, and that we are able to stand on the ground without sinking through it, etc. Another consequence of the principle is the elaborate electron shell structure of atoms and of the way atoms share electron(s) - thus variety of chemical elements and of their combinations (chemistry). (An electrically neutral atom contains bound electrons equal in number to the protons in the nucleus. Since electrons are fermions, the Pauli exclusion principle forbids them from occupying the same quantum state, so electrons have to "pile on top of each other" within an atom).