- #1
swooshfactory
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Why must we apply the Pauli Principle to electrons in a metal? Do they share a many-body wavefunction?
The saying is that no two electrons may occupy the same state, but am I allowed to say "well, this electron is at the top of the metal, and there is another one at the bottom, those two are far away and don't need to be anti-symmetrized and can each have the same momentum, k."
Many textbooks just say things like "and we apply the Pauli Principle," but I think I'm missing some piece of the puzzle.
The saying is that no two electrons may occupy the same state, but am I allowed to say "well, this electron is at the top of the metal, and there is another one at the bottom, those two are far away and don't need to be anti-symmetrized and can each have the same momentum, k."
Many textbooks just say things like "and we apply the Pauli Principle," but I think I'm missing some piece of the puzzle.