Permutation Phase and Gentile Statistics

Abstract: This paper presents a new way to construct single-valued many-body wavefunctions of identical particles with intermediate exchange phases between Fermi and Bose statistics. It is demonstrated that the exchange phase is not a representation character but the \textit{word metric} of the permutation group, beyond the anyon phase from the braiding group in two dimensions. By constructing this type of wavefunction from the direct product of single-particle states, it is shown that a finite \textit{capacity q} -- the maximally allowed particle occupation of each quantum state, naturally arises. The relation between the permutation phase and capacity is given, interpolating between fermions and bosons in the sense of both exchange phase and occupation number. This offers a quantum mechanics foundation for \textit{Gentile statistics} and new directions to explore intermediate statistics and anyons.