In the present paper it will be argued that transport in a 2D electron gas can be implemented as 'local hidden instrument based' variables. With this concept of instrumentalism it is possible to explain the quantum correlation, the particle-wave duality and Wheeler's 'backward causation of a particle'. In the case of quantum correlation the spin measuring variant of the Einstein Podolsky and Rosen paradox is studied. In the case of particle-wave duality the system studied is single photon Mach-Zehnder (MZ) interferometry with a phase shift size $δ$. The idea that the instruments more or less neutrally may show us the way to the particle will be replaced by the concept of laboratory equipment contributing in an unexpected way to the measurement.
In the present paper it will be argued that transport in a 2D electron gas can be implemented as 'local hidden instrument based' variables. With this concept of instrumentalism it is possible to explain the quantum correlation, the particle-wave duality and Wheeler's 'backward causation of a particle'. In the case of quantum correlation the spin measuring variant of the Einstein Podolsky and Rosen paradox is studied. In the case of particle-wave duality the system studied is single photon Mach-Zehnder (MZ) interferometry with a phase shift size δ. The idea that the instruments more or less neutrally may show us the way to the particle will be replaced by the concept of laboratory equipment contributing in an unexpected way to the measurement.
Introduction The paradox of Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen was advanced as an argument that quantum mechanics could not be a complete theory but should be supplemented by additional variables. These additional variables were to restore to the theory causality and locality. In this note that idea will be formulated mathematically and shown to be incompatible with the statistical predictions of quantum mechanics. It is the requirement of locality, or more precisely that the result of a measurement on one system be unaffected by operations on a distant system with which it has interacted in the past, that creates the essential difficulty. There have been attempts to show that even without such a separability or locality requirement no ‘hidden variable’ interpretation of quantum mechanics is possible. These attempts have been examined elsewhere and found wanting. Moreover, a hidden variable interpretation of elementary quantum theory has been explicitly constructed. That particular interpretation has indeed a grossly non-local structure. This is characteristic, according to the result to be proved here, of any such theory which reproduces exactly the quantum mechanical predictions. Formulation With the example advocated by Bohm and Aharonov, the EPR argument is the following. Consider a pair of spin one-half particles formed somehow in the singlet spin state and moving freely in opposite directions. Measurements can be made, say by Stern–Gerlach magnets, on selected components of the spins σ 1 and σ 2 .
The problem of wave-particle duality is considered within the framework of the algebraic approach. Contrary to the widespread belief, we demonstrate that wave-particle duality can be reconciled with the assumption that there exists some local physical reality determining the results of local measurements. A number of quantum experiments—double-slit electron scattering, Wheeler’s delayed choice experiment, the past of photons passed through the interferometer—are discussed using the concept of locality. A clear physical interpretation of these experiments that does not contradict classical concepts is provided.
One of the key mysteries of quantum mechanics is the apparent faster-than-light communication between entangled particles. This was one of the qualms highlighted by Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen in their famous EPR paper. Here, the locality of quantum systems and quantum mechanics is analyzed with reference to the phenomena of quantum teleportation. It is found that while information appears as though it is propagating nonlocally, in reality it can be explained using a local theory. The ideas of a nonlocal correlation and nonlocal information must be separated. Particularly, the concept of locally hidden or inaccessible information within subsystems of a wider quantum system is explained. Furthermore, it is shown that while some hidden-variable theories are proposed, they are not experimentally conclusive and do not provide a complete or better explanation of quantum mechanics.
In recent decades it was established that the quantum measurements of physical quantities in space-time points divided by space-like intervals may be correlated. Though such correlation follows from the formulas of quantum mechanics its physics so far remains unclear and there is a number of different and rather contradictory interpretations. They concern particularly the so-called Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox where the momentary action at a distance together with non-local entangled states is used for the interpretation. We assume that the quantum theory can be formulated as local and look for the consequences of this assumption. Accordingly we try to explain the correlation phenomena in a local way looking for the origin of correlation. To exclude a presupposed correlation of participating quantum particles we consider two independent particle sources and two detectors that are independent as well. We show that the origin of the correlation is the feature that the occupation number of a particle (and other its measurable quantities) is formed by a pair of complex conjugated wave functions with in general arbitrary phases. We consider this point as crucial as it provides interpretation of the observed correlation phenomena that may otherwise look puzzling. We briefly discuss a special type of noise that is typical for the quantum correlation phenomena.
Wave-particle duality has become one of the flagships of quantum mechanics. This counterintuitive concept is highlighted in a delayed-choice experiment, where the experimental setup that reveals either the particle or wave nature of a quantum system is decided after the system has entered the apparatus. Here we consider delayed-choice experiments from the perspective of device-independent causal models and show their equivalence to a prepare-and-measure scenario. Within this framework, we consider Wheeler's original proposal and its variant using a quantum control and show that a simple classical causal model is capable of reproducing the quantum mechanical predictions. Nonetheless, among other results, we show that, in a slight variant of Wheeler's gedanken experiment, a photon in an interferometer can indeed generate statistics incompatible with any nonretrocausal hidden variable model, whose dimensionality is the same as that of the quantum system it is supposed to mimic. Our proposal tolerates arbitrary losses and inefficiencies, making it specially suited to loophole-free experimental implementations.
Bohr's complementarity notion is at the heart of quantum physics. It suggests that quantum systems are observed as waves or particles depending on the type of measurement, i.e., the experimental arrangement, they are subjected to. For instance, sending single photons to an open or closed Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) leads to the observation of particle or wave behaviours, respectively. In 1984, Wheeler proposed a "Gedanken" delayed-choice experiment in which the interferometer configuration is chosen at will by the experimentalist only after the photon has already passed the input beam-splitter (BS_in) of the device. This experiment was realized using a single photon source and showed that Bohr's complementarity notion was still obeyed.It was recently proposed to take Wheeler's experiment one step further by employing an output "quantum beam-splitter" (QBS), i.e.,preparing BS_out in a coherent superposition of being absent and present. This allows choosing the type of measurement, i.e., wave or particle, only after having determined the state of the QBS, which can be (in principle) infinitely delayed.We realized such an experiment by exploiting the resource of entanglement, in this case pairs of polarization entangled photons. The behaviour of one of the paired photons, called the test photon, is analysed using a MZI having a QBS at its output. This QBS is enabled by entanglement and made of a polarization dependent beam-splitter. The other photon, called the corroborative photon, allows determining the state of the QBS, and consequently, which test photon behaviour (wave, particle, or both) is observed.By manipulating the corroborative photon polarization state, we demonstrate a continuous morphing of the test photon from wave to particle behaviour. This refutes simple models of single photons behaving exclusively as waves or particles. The state of the QBS is determined via the measurement of the corroborative photon only after the test photon has already been detected. The space-like separation between the two measurements invalidates local-hidden variable models associated with pre-existing information about the measurement outcomes. In other words, when the test photon is detected, no information is available about the type of measurement it underwent. These results still perfectly obey Bohr's complementarity notion and its extension.