Quantum Mechanics Versus Local Realism: The Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Paradox

470 Pages·1988·10.43 MB·English

by  Franco Selleri (auth.)

Physics of Atoms and Molecules
Series Editors: Philip George Burke · Hans Kleinpoppen
Franco Selleri Editor
Quantum
Mechanics
versus Local
Realism
The Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen
Paradox
Quantum Mechanics
Versus Local Realism
The Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Paradox
PHYSICS OF ATOMS AND MOLECULES
Series Editors
P. G. Burke, The Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland
H. Kleinpoppen, Atomic Physics Laboratory, University of Stirling, Scotland
Editorial Advisory Board
R. B. Bernstein (New York, U.S.A.) C. J. Joachain (Brussels, Belgium)
J. C. Cohen-Tannoudji (Paris, France) W. E. Lamb, Jr. (Tucson, U.S.A.)
R. W. Crompton (Canberra, Australia) P.-O. Lowdin (Gainesville, U.S.A.)
J. N. Dodd (Dunedin, New Zealand) H. O. Lutz (Bielefeld, Germany)
W. Hanle (Giessen, Germany) M. R. C. McDowell (London, U.K.)
K. Takayanagi (Tokyo, Japan)
Recent volumes in the series:
ATOMIC INNER-SHELL PHYSICS
Edited by Bernd Crasemann
ATOMS IN ASTROPHYSICS
Edited by P. G. Burke, W. B. Eissner, D. G. Hummer, and I. C. Percival
AUTOIONIZATION: Recent Developments and Applications
Edited by Aaron Temkin
COLLISIONS OF ELECTRONS WITH ATOMS AND MOLECULES
G. F. Drukarev
DENSITY MATRIX THEORY AND APPLICATIONS
Karl Blum
ELECTRON-ATOM AND ELECTRON-MOLECULE COLLISIONS
Edited by Juergen Hinze
ELECTRON-MOLECULE COLLISIONS
Edited by Isao Shimamura and Kazuo Takayanagi
INNER-SHELL AND X-RAY PHYSICS OF ATOMS AND SOLIDS
Edited by Derek J. Fabian, Hans Kleinpoppen, and Lewis M. Watson
INTRODUCTION TO THE THEORY OF LASER-ATOM INTERACTIONS
Marvin H. Mittleman
ISOTOPE SHIFTS IN ATOMIC SPECTRA
W. H. King
PROGRESS IN ATOMIC SPECTROSCOPY, Parts A, B, C, and D
Edited by W. Hanle, H. Kleinpoppen, and H. J. Beyer
QUANTUM MECHANICS VERSUS LOCAL REALISM: The Einstein-Podolsky
Rosen Paradox
Edited by Franco Selleri
RECENT STUDIES IN ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PROCESSES
Edited by Arthur E. Kingston
THEORY OF MULTIPHOTON PROCESSES
Farhad H. M. Faisal
VARIATIONAL METHODS IN ELECTRON-ATOM SCATTERING THEORY
R. K. Nesbet
ZERO-RANGE POTENTIALS AND THEIR APPLICATIONS IN ATOMIC PHYSICS
Yu. N. Demkov and V. N. Ostrovskii
A Continuation Order Plan is available for this series. A continuation order will bring delivery of each new
volume immediately upon publication. Volumes are billed only upon actual shipment. For further information
please contact the publisher.
Quantum Mechanics
Versus Local Realism
The Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Paradox
Edited by
FRANCO SELLERI
University of Bari
Bari, Italy
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Quantum mechanics versus local realism.
(Physics of atoms and molecules)
Includes bibliographies and index.
1. Quantum theory. I. Selleri, Franco. II. Title: Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen
paradox. III. Series.
QC174.12.Q36 1988 530.1'2 88-15124
ISBN 978-1-4684-8776-3 ISBN 978-1-4684-8774-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4684-8774-9
© 1988 Springer Science+Business Media New York
Originally published by Plenum Press, New York in 1988.
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming,
recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher
Contributors
A. 0. Barut, Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder,
Colorado 80309, United States
D. Bohm, Physics Department, Birkbeck College, University of London,
London WC1E 7HX, England, United Kingdom
V Buonomano, Institute of Mathematics, State University of Campinas,
Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil
C. Dewdney, Department of Applied Physics and Physical Electronics,
Portsmouth Polytechnic, Portsmouth POI 2DZ, England, United
Kingdom
A. 1. Duncan, Atomic Physics Laboratory, University of Stirling,
Stirling FK9 4LA, Scotland, United Kingdom
F. Falciglia, Institute of Physics, Viale Andrea Doria, 95125 Catania,
Italy
M. Ferrero, Department of Physics, University of Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain
A. Garuccio, Department of Physics, University of Bari, 70216 Bari, Italy
B. 1. Hiley, Physics Department, Birkbeck College, University of London,
London WC1E 7HX, England, United Kingdom
P. R. Holland, Henri Poincare Institute, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
D. Home, Department of Physics, Bose Institute, Calcutta 700009, India
H. Kleinpoppen, Atomic Physics Laboratory, University of Stirling,
Stirling FK94LA, Scotland, United Kingdom
A. Kyprianidis, Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, Henri Poincare
Institute, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
T W Marshall, Department of Theoretical Physics, University of
Cantabria, Santander 39005, Spain
W Miickenheim, Siidring 10, 0-3400 Gottingen, Federal Republic of
Germany
L. Pappalardo, Department of Physics, University of Catania, 95129
Catania, Italy
S. Pascazio, Department of Mathematics, Free University of Brussels,
1050 Brussels, Belgium
vi Contributors
J. Rayski, Institute of Physics, Jagellonian University, Cracow, Poland
E. Santos, Department of Theoretical Physics, University of Cantabria,
Santander 39005, Spain
F. Selleri, Department of Physics, University of Bari, 70126 Bari, Italy
H. P. Stapp, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720,
United States
N. A. Tornqvist, Department of High Energy Physics, University of
Helsinki, SF-00170 Helsinki 17, Finland
1. P. Vigier, Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, Henri Poincare Institute,
75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
Preface
If you have two small objects, one here on Earth and the other on the
planet Pluto, what would you say of the following statement: No
modification of the properties of the object on the earth can take place as
a consequence of an interaction of the distant object with a third body also
located on Pluto?
The opinion that the previous statement is correct is very natural, but
modern quantum theory implies that it must be wrong in certain cases.
Consider in fact two arbitrary objects separated by such a large distance
that they are unable to exert any important mutual influence. It is possible
to show rigorously that a measurable physical quantity exists, with a value
more than 40% different from the value theoretically predicted by quantum
mechanics.
Necessarily then, either space is largely an illusion of our senses and
it does not exist objectively, or information can be sent from the future to
the past, or ... something important has to be changed in modern physics.
This is the essence of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) paradox.
A paradox is an argument that derives absurd conclusions by valid deduction
from acceptable premises. In the case of the EPR paradox the absurd
conclusion is that Bell's observable d should have two different values
d = 2.Ji and
The "acceptable premises" are the following:
1. All the empirical predictions of the existing quantum theory are
correct.
2. Local realism has an unlimited validity, where by local realism one
means a set of three reasonable ideas (reality criterion, separability,
time arrow) that are discussed in depth in this book.
3. Probabilities are well behaved, that is, they are positive, do not
exceed unity, and satisfy the ergodic hypothesis.
The incompatibility among (1), (2), and (3) shows that the EPR paradox
is not merely a matter of interpretation of the quantum formalism, but holds
vii
viii Preface
for all the conceivable interpretations, since it is a consequence of the
empirical predictions of the theory only. Thus the EPR paradox leads to
the fantastic conclusion that some empirical predictions of the existing
quantum theory are incompatible with deep-rooted conceptions of modern
science. This is the reason why the solution of the paradox is expected to
have a profound effect on future physics. It is then understandable that
Stapp could write that "Bell's theorem is the most profound discovery of
science."
In preparing their contributions to this volume the authors have kept
in mind that it is directed to a broad spectrum of readers, including
physicists, mathematicians, chemists, and philosophers of science. Therefore
the book is not primarily directed to people already active on EPR (although
they are welcome to buy a copy!). It has only been assumed that our readers
are generally interested in EPR matters but know nothing about them and
wish to learn from this book, starting from a mere knowledge of elementary
quantum mechanics.
Every chapter of the book considers as known and "given" only a few
very general facts about the EPR paradox. These are contained in the
introductory chapter, which consists of a very simple and general historical
review of the most important ideas, those that are "obvious" to researchers
active on the problem. There is no other book on the market entirely devoted
to the EPR paradox. In order to fill the gap this book provides an almost
complete review of all the lines of research which are today trying to
solve the paradox in different ways. The following proposed solutions are
presented:
1. Existence of superluminal connections between atomic objects
separated by a large distance.
2. Retroactions in time, that is, the idea that the past can be actively
influenced by choices made in the future.
3. Variable detection probability, that is, the idea that some quantum
probabilities are different for different individual quantum systems,
so that new physical features arise only for two (or more) correlated
systems.
4. Breakdown of the "ergodic hypothesis," that is, the idea that
ensemble averages can be different from time averages.
5. Negative probabilities, that is, the idea that the usual numerical
bounds for probabilities can sometimes break down. Such a possibil
ity has been advocated by Dirac and by Feynman.
The book shows that it will be possible to decide experimentally on very
fundamental conceptual matters, such as local realism and the existence
of superluminal connections and their properties. New experiments are
Preface ix
proposed in some chapters, for instance in the domain of particle physics.
It is also shown that, contrary to a rather widespread opinion, the question
of locality in atomic-cascade experiments is far from settled, and that it
will require an entirely new generation of experiments.
Every conceivable solution of the EPR paradox is incredibly revolution
ary: There is a definite possibility that its study will lead to a new start in
fundamental physics. If that happens we do not know what direction the
field will take. It is, however, tempting to say that the solution of the paradox
will be physical, that is, along the natural ways of science, and that the
seemingly strange proposals which are popular today reflect, more than
anything else, the depth of the problem which is being faced and the great
expectations which everyone has for its future solution.
Franco Selleri
Bari, Italy