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Just one electron?



On Mon, 12 Jan 1998, Rauber, Joel Phys wrote:

The suggestion that all electrons are the same electron is one that I can
never decide if Feynman was serious, or was it an idea that he and the guy's
came up one night late at the local beer tavern. Which is to say, if he was
sending it by e-mail would he put the winky emoticon after the suggestion or
not?

It's a beautiful idea, so I suspect he was serious. Nevertheless, as fond
as I have always been for this hypothesis, it does seem to lead
inescapably to a conclusion that is at direct odds with current thought:
IF they are all the same electron, THEN there must be just as much matter
as antimatter in the universe (or there must be some way for matter to
tunnel through time or time itself must have periodic boundary conditions
or ...) Ay?

John
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