VECTOR-BUNDLES OVER CONFIGURATION-SPACES OF NONIDENTICAL PARTICLES - TOPOLOGICAL POTENTIALS AND INTERNAL DEGREES OF FREEDOM

We consider configuration spaces of nonidentical pointlike particles. The physically motivated assumption that any two particles cannot be l ocated at the same point in space-time leads to nontrivial topological structure of the configuration space. For a quantum mechanical descri ption of such a system, we classify complex vector bundles over the co nfiguration space and obtain potentials of topological origin, similar to those that occur in the fiber bundle approach to Dirac's magnetic monopole or in Yang-Mills theory. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physi cs.