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arXiv:1503.08681

A Dempster-Schafer approach to Bell's inequalities

Adam Stokes

Published Mar 30, 2015• 0 citations
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Abstract

We present an alternative approach to modeling Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-Bohm (EPRB)-type experiments. The basis for our approach will be to replace the conventional Kolmogorov theory of probability, with the more general Dempster-Schafer theory of evidence. This leads to the identification of a distinct type of epistemic uncertainty, which is not present in Kolmogorov theory, but which is relevant in modeling experiments with operationally incompatible observables. Our treatment naturally yields conditional relative frequencies, which are perfectly compatible with classical determinism and locality, but which do not satisfy Bell-type inequalities.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1503.08681

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We present an alternative approach to modeling Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-Bohm (EPRB)-type experiments. The basis for our approach will be to replace the conventional Kolmogorov theory of probability, with the more general Dempster-Schafer theory of evidence. This leads to the identification of a distinct type of epistemic uncertainty, which is not present in Kolmogorov theory, but which is relevant in modeling experiments with operationally incompatible observables. Our treatment naturally yields conditional relative frequencies, which are perfectly compatible with classical determinism and locality, but which do not satisfy Bell-type inequalities.
Within the Dempster-Schafer theory of evidence a non-Kolmogorovian kind of epistemic uncertainty arises, which is encoded using multi-valued maps. We analyse the possible implications such non-Kolmogorovian epistemic uncertainty may have for Bell-type inequalities relating to the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-Bohm (EPRB) thought experiment. Our analysis leads to a notion of contextuality concerning complexes of physical measurement conditions. The use of multi-valued maps reveals an implicit link between this contextuality and counterfactual outcomes, and results in a formulation wherein the states of measurement devices are explicitly taken into account as part of the probabilistic event space. This reflects a conception of measurement that was advocated by Bell some time ago. It results in context-conditioned measure-theoretic probabilities, which do not obey Bell-type inequalities, but which are nonetheless perfectly compatible with local classical physical models. We give an example of a local classical model that reproduces the quantum mechanical predictions and that fits within the contextual framework.
We remind the viewpoint that violation of Bell's inequality might be interpreted not only as an evidence of the alternative -- either nonlocality or ``death of reality'' (under the assumption the quantum mechanics is incomplete). Violation of Bell's type inequalities is a well known sufficient condition of incompatibility of random variables -- impossibility to realize them on a single probability space. Thus, in fact, we should take into account an additional interpretation of violation of Bell's inequality -- a few pairs of random variables (two dimensional vector variables) involved in the EPR-Bohm experiment are incompatible. They could not be realized on a single Kolmogorov probability space. Thus one can choose between: a) completeness of quantum mechanics; b) nonlocality; c) `` death of reality''; d) non-Kolmogorovness. In any event, violation of Bell's inequality has a variety of possible interpretations. Hence, it could not be used to derive the unique conclusion on the relation between quantum and classical models.
Among the various "no-go theorems" in the foundations of quantum mechanics, Bell inequalities are among the few, which do not implicitly rely on the mathematical structure of quantum mechanics. Instead, Bell inequalities are commonly understood to rest on Kolmogorov's theory of probability and a "locality" assumption. Physical evidence supporting their violation is hence taken as evidence against at least one of these two assumptions. This work provides a comprehensive analysis of the physical debate on Bell inequalities from the point of view of Kolmogorov's theory of probability, focusing on the Bell-Clauser-Horn-Shimony-Holt inequality (BCHSH inequality). The central contribution is the motivation and mathematical study of the notion of contextuality in Bell experiments: in so-called contextual Bell models the detectors themselves behave randomly and the distribution of the random detector parameters depends on the chosen detector settings. It is shown how even "classical" Bell experiments motivate such a description. The need to account for contextuality was pointed out before by de la Peña, Cetto, Brody, Lochak, Bohm, Hiley and others. A broad class of contextual models is proven to satisfy the BCHSH inequality, thereby generalizing a previous result by Gill and Lambare. Nonetheless, even under strong locality requirements, contextual Bell models may violate the BCHSH inequality: based on work by Popescu and Rohrlich, we consider a "proof of concept" example exhibiting the maximum possible violation. Contrary to the much debated "loopholes" in empirical tests of Bell inequalities, contextuality thus reveals a conceptual misunderstanding in the physical conclusions commonly drawn from Bell inequality violations.
Data sets produced by three different Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-Bohm (EPRB) experiments are tested against the hypothesis that the statistics of this data is described by quantum theory. Although these experiments generate data that violate Bell inequalities for suitable choices of the time-coincidence window, the analysis shows that it is highly unlikely that these data sets are compatible with the quantum theoretical description of the EPRB experiment, suggesting that the popular statements that EPRB experiments agree with quantum theory lack a solid scientific basis and that more precise experiments are called for.
Data sets produced by three different Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-Bohm (EPRB) experiments are tested against the hypothesis that the statistics of this data is described by quantum theory. Although these experiments generate data that violate Bell inequalities for suitable choices of the time-coincidence window, the analysis shows that it is highly unlikely that these data sets are compatible with the quantum theoretical description of the EPRB experiment, suggesting that the popular statements that EPRB experiments agree with quantum theory lack a solid scientific basis and that more precise experiments are called for.
Data produced by laboratory Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-Bohm (EPRB) experiments is tested against the hypothesis that the statistics of this data is given by quantum theory of this thought experiment. Statistical evidence is presented that the experimental data, while violating Bell inequalities, does not support this hypothesis. It is shown that an event-based simulation model, providing a cause-and-effect description of real EPRB experiments at a level of detail which is not covered by quantum theory, reproduces the results of quantum theory of this thought experiment, indicating that there is no fundamental obstacle for a real EPRB experiment to produce data that can be described by quantum theory.