Is it possible, that the metagalaxy contains a fractional (non whole) number of particles or fractional number of a particular kind of particles (such as electrons)?
Sorry, if my question is stupid, my knowledge of QM is limited by popular science.
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1$\begingroup$ The number operator has only integer eigenvalues. OTOH, the notion of "particle" is not well defined on the galactic scale because the curvature could vary appreciably at that scale. $\endgroup$– Ryan UngerCommented Aug 24, 2015 at 21:51
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3$\begingroup$ First time seeing OTOH....on the other hand, just to save some people time. $\endgroup$– user81619Commented Aug 24, 2015 at 22:06
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$\begingroup$ Not quite in the same vein, but some QCD theorists find it useful to treat the number of strong-force colors $n_c$ as a parameter and take limits on it. $\endgroup$– dmckee --- ex-moderator kittenCommented Aug 25, 2015 at 1:48
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1 Answer
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If a particle either "is" or "isn't", then its count is either 1 or 0. Even in quantum mechanics it's not possible that half a particle exists. It is possible to detect it with 50% probability, but if you set about counting all the particles one at a time, you necessarily end up with an integer answer.
