Making sense of Bell's theorem and quantum nonlocality

DOI10.1007/S10701-017-0083-6zbMATH Open1370.81005arXiv1703.11003OpenAlexW2601856927WikidataQ59754970 ScholiaQ59754970MaRDI QIDQ2014303FDOQ2014303

Authors: Stephen Boughn 

Publication date: 11 August 2017

Published in: Foundations of Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: Bell's theorem has fascinated physicists and philosophers since his 1964 paper, which was written in response to the 1935 paper of Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen. Bell's theorem and its many extensions have led to the claim that quantum mechanics and by inference nature herself are nonlocal in the sense that a measurement on a system by an observer at one location has an immediate effect on a distant "entangled" system (one with which the original system has previously interacted). Einstein was repulsed by such "spooky action at a distance" and was led to question whether quantum mechanics could provide a complete description of physical reality. In this paper I argue that quantum mechanics does not require spooky action at a distance of any kind and yet it is entirely reasonable to question the assumption that quantum mechanics can provide a complete description of physical reality. The magic of entangled quantum states has little to do with entanglement and everything to do with superposition, a property of all quantum systems and a foundational tenet of quantum mechanics.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.11003

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zbMATH Keywords

Bell's theoremmeasurement problemfoundations of quantum mechanicsquantum nonlocality

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Physics (00A79) General and philosophical questions in quantum theory (81P05) Quantum measurement theory, state operations, state preparations (81P15) Quantum coherence, entanglement, quantum correlations (81P40)

Cites Work

• Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?
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