PECULIAR SPIN AND STATISTICS IN TWO SPACE DIMENSIONS

Abstract

This is an elementary, self-contained review of some peculiarities of quantum mechanics for 2+1 dimensional systems that are at least instructive and perhaps important. In particular, we argue that angular momentum need not be quantized and that statistics interpolating between Fermi and Bose statistics can be constructed. There are possible direct applications to collective excitations in solids and to cosmic strings, and an important moral lesson regarding the “wave function of the universe.”