nLab Stern-Gerlach experiment

Contents

Context

Physics

physics, mathematical physics, philosophy of physics

Surveys, textbooks and lecture notes


theory (physics), model (physics)

experiment, measurement, computable physics

Contents

Idea

The Stern-Gerlach experiment showed that electrons are spinors. It was the first experimental observation of the elementary spin 12\frac{1}{2} of fermions.

Implications

Via the Pauli exclusion principle/spin-statistics theorem, this implies that wavefunctions depending on fermionic variable commute with each other only up to a sign, forming a supercommutative superalgebra. This way the Stern-Gerlach experiment is ultimately the observation that physical reality is described by supergeometry.

(Notice that there is supergeometry independently of supersymmetry, which may or may not be present in addition).

References

See also:

Last revised on October 21, 2022 at 10:45:09. See the history of this page for a list of all contributions to it.