  The superposition principle is a very basic ingredient of quantum theory.
What may come as a surprise to many students, and even to many practitioners of
the quantum craft, is tha superposition has limitations imposed by certain
requirements of the theory. The discussion of such limitations arising from the
so-called superselection rules is the main purpose of this paper. Some of their
principal consequences are also discussed. The univalence, mass and particle
number superselection rules of non-relativistic quantum mechanics are also
derived using rather simple methods.
