We have seen in the previous chapter how the existence of an order-disorder duality structure allows the obtainment of a full quantum theory of topological excitations. In the present chapter, conversely, we will see how the same structure is at the very roots of a method by which one can generate, out of bosonic fields, new composite fields with different statistics, either fermionic or generalized. In the first case, the method is usually called bosonization and allows a full description of fermions within the bosonic theory, whereas in the second, the method provides a complete description of anyons, as the particles with generalized statistics have been called [59], also in the framework of the bosonic theory. From their inception, both bosonization and the construction of fields with generalized statistics are deeply related to the order-disorder duality structure, since both fermion and anyon fields can be expressed as products of order and disorder operators, which respectively carry charge and topological charge [31, 32, 45]. The statistics of the resulting composite field, then, is proportional to the product of the charge and topological charge borne by this field. In this chapter we will expose the basic features of bosonization, as well as its relation with generalized statistics, and apply it to different quantum field theory systems in D = 2, 3 and 4, thereby verifying it is an extremely powerful tool for solving interacting field theories. Indeed, in some cases, this method can lead to the exact solution of highly nonlinear systems.

The Symmetrization Postulate and Its Violation: Bosons, Fermions and Anyons

Physical systems most frequently possess identical objects. Such is the case, for instance, of electrons, photons, phonons, etc. Also billiard balls, perhaps. The description of identical objects, however, changes dramatically according to whether we use a classical or quantum-mechanical approach. In the first case, one can always distinguish identical objects because we can follow their trajectories, whereas in the second case, this is no longer possible. Indeed, within a quantummechanical framework the wave-functions of different identical particles may overlap, thus causing us at the end of a physical process, to completely loose track of which particle corresponds to each of the initial ones.