Entanglement between identical particles is a useful and consistent resource

Understand

The existence of fundamentally identical particles represents a foundational distinction between classical and quantum mechanics.

• Due to their exchange symmetry, identical particles can appear to be entangled -- another uniquely quantum phenomenon with far-reaching practical implications.
• However, a long-standing debate has questioned whether identical particle entanglement is physical or merely a mathematical artefact.
• In this work, we provide such particle entanglement with a consistent theoretical description as a quantum resource in processes frequently encountered in optical and cold atomic systems.