2009/02/28 by Guy Blaylock · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Physics and Astronomy · #Philosophy and History of Science #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Relativity and Gravitational Theory #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1119/1.3243279
published as Am. J. Phys. 78 (2010) 111-120 · 28 pages; change of title, minor wording changes, move to TeX format
arxiv created 2009/09/17 · openalex publication_date 2009/12/14 · arxiv updated 2015/05/12 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Most physicists agree that the Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen–Bell paradox exemplifies much of the strange behavior of quantum mechanics, but argument persists about what assumptions underlie the paradox. To clarify what the debate is about, we employ a simple and well-known thought experiment involving two correlated photons to help us focus on the logical assumptions needed to construct the EPR and Bell arguments. The view presented in this paper is that the minimal assumptions behind Bell’s inequality are locality and counterfactual definiteness but not scientific realism, determinism, or hidden variables as are often suggested. We further examine the resulting constraints on physical theory with an illustration from the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics—an interpretation that we argue is deterministic, local, and realist but that nonetheless violates the Bell inequality.