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Term in quantum field theory
In a
quantum field theory with
fermions, (−1)F is a
unitary,
Hermitian,
involutive
operator where F is the
fermion
number operator. For the example of particles in the
Standard Model, it is equal to the sum of the lepton number plus the baryon number, F = B + L. The action of this operator is to multiply
bosonic states by 1 and
fermionic states by −1. This is always a global
internal symmetry of any quantum field theory with fermions and corresponds to a rotation by 2π. This splits the
Hilbert space into two
superselection sectors. Bosonic operators
commute with (−1)F whereas fermionic operators
anticommute with it.
[1]
This operator really shows its utility in
supersymmetric theories.
[1]
Its trace is the
spectral asymmetry of the fermion spectrum, and can be understood physically as the
Casimir effect.
See also
References
Further reading