Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 226, 2837-2842 (2017)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2016-60328-y

Regular Article

Generalized spin-statistic selection rules for atomic transitions with arbitrary number of equivalent photons

¹ Department of Physics, St. Petersburg State University, Petrodvorets, Ulianovskaya 1, 198504, St. Petersburg, Russia
² Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, 188300, Gatchina, St. Petersburg, Russia

^a e-mail: zalialiutdinov@gmail.com

Received: 15 October 2016
Revised: 4 January 2017
Published online: 26 July 2017

Abstract

Generalized spin-statistic selection rules (SSSR) for the arbitrary number of photons N_γ involved in atomic transitions are established. These selection rules are similar to those for systems of many equivalent electrons in atomic theory. The latter are a direct consequence of symmetrization postulate (SP) and the Pauli exclusion principle (PEP) (or its more general formulation is spin-statistics connection (SSC)). In this sense, the SSSR play the role of the exclusion principle for photons: they forbid some particular states for the photon systems. This selection rule represents an extension of the Landau-Yang theorem (LYT) to the photons involved in atomic transitions. The possible experimental test of generalized SSSR are also proposed.