2007/11/30 by Adam Brandenburger, Noson S. Yanofsky, Noson Yanofsky
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Computability, Logic, AI Algorithms #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1751-8113/41/42/425302
published as J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 41 (2008) 425302 · 28 pages; added references; clearer exposition. Final version
openalex publication_date 2008/09/26 · arxiv created 2008/12/03 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Hidden variables are extra components added to try to banish counterintuitive features of quantum mechanics. We start with a quantum-mechanical model and describe various properties that can be asked of a hidden-variable model. We present six such properties and a Venn diagram of how they are related. With two existence theorems and three no-go theorems (EPR, Bell, and Kochen-Specker), we show which properties of empirically equivalent hidden-variable models are possible and which are not. Formally, our treatment relies only on classical probability models, and physical phenomena are used only to motivate which models to choose. 1