Proposed Experiment to Test the Possible Time Dependence of the Onset of the Pauli Exclusion Principle

Abstract

Ernesto Corinaldesi has conjectured that the symmetry of integral spin particles under exchange and the anti-symmetry of half-integral spin particles under exchange are not kinematic principles but are rather the time-dependent consequences of interactions among the particles. Hence, a freshly constituted ensemble of electrons may exhibit violations of the Pauli Exclusion Principle (PP), but as the ensemble ages, the violations become more and more infrequent. An experiment is proposed to test Corinaldesi's conjecture. A beam of Ne+ ions, accelerated in a linear accelerator to 100th the velocity of light, is crossed by a beam of electrons from an electron gun at variable positions along the direction of flow of the ions. Some of the ions capture electrons, at a rate monitored by detectors sensitive to the photons emitted in the capture process. A PP violating electron can make a transition to the doubly occupied 1s level, emitting a photon of approximately 1 keV. A rate of detection of such photons, which diminishes with the distance of the detector from the point of capture, and hence with the age of the ensemble, permits in principle the calculation of the equilibration constant of Corinaldesi's conjecture. Reasonable assumptions about the parameters of the experimental arrangement indicate that if the conjecture is correct and the equilibration constant is not shorter than 10?15 s, the proposed experiment can determine the value of this constant.