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I don't quite understand the pigeonhole concept as it relates to the pigeons. Is the thought experiment saying that if they check each pigeonhole they'll only e

I don't quite understand the pigeonhole concept as it relates to the pigeons. Is the thought experiment saying that if they check each pigeonhole they'll only ever find one pigeon? Even with infinite pigeons, they'll only find one? (And presumably all the other pigeons will occupy the other roost?) I'm not quite following.

acqq 11y ago
The start of the PDF of the authors, better than the articles: "The pigeonhole principle: "If you put three pigeons in two pigeonholes at least two of the pigeons end up in the same hole" is an obvious yet fundamental principle of Nature as it captures the very essence of counting. Here however we show that in quantum mechanics this is not true! We find instances when three quantum particles are put in two boxes, yet no two particles are in the same box." That's quantum physics. Our experiences from the "big world" don't match what's going on there. The "electron" is a particle (called so for our convenience, like other particles) but it doesn't behave like anything from the macroworld. And take care finding what the "boxes" actually in this case are.
deleted 11y ago
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