Editing Fock state (section)

{{short description|Number-state in quantum mechanics}}
In [[quantum mechanics]], a '''Fock state''' or '''number state''' is a [[quantum state]] that is an element of a [[Fock space]] with a well-defined number of [[Elementary particle|particle]]s (or [[quantum|quanta]]). These states are named after the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] physicist [[Vladimir Fock]]. Fock states play an important role in the [[second quantization]] formulation of quantum mechanics.

The particle representation was first treated in detail by [[Paul Dirac]] for [[boson]]s and by [[Pascual Jordan]] and [[Eugene Wigner]] for [[fermion]]s.<ref name="Friedrichs">{{Cite book
| last = Friedrichs
| first = K. O.
| title = Mathematical aspects of the Quantum Theory of Fields
| publisher = Interscience Publishers
| date = 1953
| asin = B0006ATGK4 }}</ref>{{rp|35}}  The Fock states of bosons and fermions obey useful relations with respect to the Fock space [[creation and annihilation operators]].