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arXiv:1605.05237 · Computer Physics Communications

The digital computer as a metaphor for the perfect laboratory experiment: Loophole-free Bell experiments

Hans A. De Raedt, Kristel F. L. Michielsen, K. Hess

Published Aug 22, 2016• 15 citations
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Abstract

Using Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen–Bohm experiments as an example, we demonstrate that the combination of a digital computer and algorithms, as a metaphor for a perfect laboratory experiment, provides solutions to problems of the foundations of physics. Employing discrete-event simulation, we present a counterexample to John Bell’s remarkable “proof” that any theory of physics, which is both Einstein-local and “realistic” (counterfactually definite), results in a strong upper bound to the correlations that are being measured in Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen–Bohm experiments. Our counterexample, which is free of the so-called detection-, coincidence-, memory-, and contextuality loophole, violates this upper bound and fully agrees with the predictions of quantum theory for Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen–Bohm experiments.

DOI
10.1016/j.cpc.2016.08.010

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Using Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen–Bohm experiments as an example, we demonstrate that the combination of a digital computer and algorithms, as a metaphor for a perfect laboratory experiment, provides solutions to problems of the foundations of physics. Employing discrete-event simulation, we present a counterexample to John Bell’s remarkable “proof” that any theory of physics, which is both Einstein-local and “realistic” (counterfactually definite), results in a strong upper bound to the correlations that are being measured in Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen–Bohm experiments. Our counterexample, which is free of the so-called detection-, coincidence-, memory-, and contextuality loophole, violates this upper bound and fully agrees with the predictions of quantum theory for Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen–Bohm experiments.
Abstract Recent Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-Bohm experiments [M. Giustinaet al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 250401 (2015); L. K. Shalmet al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 250402 (2015)] that claim to be loophole free are scrutinized. The combination of a digital computer and discrete-event simulation is used to construct a minimal but faithful model of the most perfected realization of these laboratory experiments. In contrast to prior simulations, all photon selections are strictly made, as they are in the actual experiments, at the local station and no other “post-selection” is involved. The simulation results demonstrate that a manifestly non-quantum model that identifies photons in the same local manner as in these experiments can produce correlations that are in excellent agreement with those of the quantum theoretical description of the corresponding thought experiment, in conflict with Bell’s theorem which states that this is impossible. The failure of Bell’s theorem is possible because of our recognition of the photon identification loophole. Such identification measurement-procedures are necessarily included in all actual experiments but are not included in the theory of Bell and his followers.
We review an event-based simulation approach which reproduces the statistical distributions of quantum physics experiments by generating detection events one-by-one according to an unknown distribution and without solving a wave equation. Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-Bohm laboratory experiments are used as an example to illustrate the applicability of this approach. It is shown that computer experiments that employ the same post-selection procedure as the one used in laboratory experiments produce data that is in excellent agreement with quantum theory.
Recent Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-Bohm experiments [M. Giustina et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 250401 (2015); L. K. Shalm et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 250402 (2015)] that claim to be loophole free are scrutinized and are shown to suffer a photon identification loophole. The combination of a digital computer and discrete-event simulation is used to construct a minimal but faithful model of the most perfected realization of these laboratory experiments. In contrast to prior simulations, all photon selections are strictly made, as they are in the actual experiments, at the local station and no other "post-selection" is involved. The simulation results demonstrate that a manifestly non-quantum model that identifies photons in the same local manner as in these experiments can produce correlations that are in excellent agreement with those of the quantum theoretical description of the corresponding thought experiment, in conflict with Bell's theorem. The failure of Bell's theorem is possible because of our recognition of the photon identification loophole. Such identification measurement-procedures are necessarily included in all actual experiments but are not included in the theory of Bell and his followers.
We construct an event-based computer simulation model of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-Bohm experiments with photons. The algorithm is a one-to-one copy of the data gathering and analysis procedures used in real laboratory experiments. We consider two types of experiments, those with a source emitting photons with opposite but otherwise unpredictable polarization and those with a source emitting photons with fixed polarization. In the simulation, the choice of the direction of polarization measurement for each detection event is arbitrary. We use three different procedures to identify pairs of photons and compute the frequency of coincidences by analyzing experimental data and simulation data. The model strictly satisfies Einstein’s criteria of local causality, does not rely on any concept of quantum theory and reproduces the results of quantum theory for both types of experiments. We give a rigorous proof that the probabilistic description of the simulation model yields the quantum theoretical expressions for the single- and two-particle expectation values.
We review the data gathering and analysis procedure used in real Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-Bohm experiments with photons and we illustrate the procedure by analyzing experimental data. Based on this analysis, we construct event-based computer simulation models in which every essential element in the experiment has a counterpart. The data is analyzed by counting single-particle events and two-particle coincidences, using the same procedure as in experiments. The simulation models strictly satisfy Einstein's criteria of local causality, do not rely on any concept of quantum theory or probability theory, and reproduce all results of quantum theory for a quantum system of two S=1/2S=1/2S=1/2 particles. We present a rigorous analytical treatment of these models and show that they may yield results that are in exact agreement with quantum theory. The apparent conflict with the folklore on Bell's theorem, stating that such models are not supposed to exist, is resolved. Finally, starting from the principles of probable inference, we derive the probability distributions of quantum theory of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-Bohm experiment without invoking concepts of quantum theory.
We take the point of view that building a one-way bridge from experimental data to mathematical models instead of the other way around avoids running into controversies resulting from attaching meaning to the symbols used in the latter. In particular, we show that adopting this view offers new perspectives for constructing mathematical models for and interpreting the results of Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen–Bohm experiments. We first prove new Bell-type inequalities constraining the values of the four correlations obtained by performing Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen–Bohm experiments under four different conditions. The proof is “model-free” in the sense that it does not refer to any mathematical model that one imagines to have produced the data. The constraints only depend on the number of quadruples obtained by reshuffling the data in the four data sets without changing the values of the correlations. These new inequalities reduce to model-free versions of the well-known Bell-type inequalities if the maximum fraction of quadruples is equal to one. Being model-free, a violation of the latter by experimental data implies that not all the data in the four data sets can be reshuffled to form quadruples. Furthermore, being model-free inequalities, a violation of the latter by experimental data only implies that any mathematical model assumed to produce this data does not apply. Starting from the data obtained by performing Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen–Bohm experiments, we construct instead of postulate mathematical models that describe the main features of these data. The mathematical framework of plausible reasoning is applied to reproducible and robust data, yielding without using any concept of quantum theory, the expression of the correlation for a system of two spin-1/2 objects in the singlet state. Next, we apply Bell’s theorem to the Stern–Gerlach experiment and demonstrate how the requirement of separability leads to the quantum-theoretical description of the averages and correlations obtained from an Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen–Bohm experiment. We analyze the data of an Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen–Bohm experiment and debunk the popular statement that Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen–Bohm experiments have vindicated quantum theory. We argue that it is not quantum theory but the processing of data from EPRB experiments that should be questioned. We perform Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen–Bohm experiments on a superconducting quantum information processor to show that the event-by-event generation of discrete data can yield results that are in good agreement with the quantum-theoretical description of the Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen–Bohm thought experiment. We demonstrate that a stochastic and a subquantum model can also produce data that are in excellent agreement with the quantum-theoretical description of the Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen–Bohm thought experiment.