Bell's inequality plays an important role with respect to the Einsteinian question about the physical reality of quantum theory. While Bell's inequality is usually viewed within the geometric framework of a Hilbert space quantum model, the present note extends the theory of Heisenberg measurements to quantum systems with representations in general orthogonal geometric spaces and, in particular, the Minkowski spaces of relativity theory. A Feynmanian numerical example exhibits two measurements that admit a joint probabilistic interpretation in Minkowski space while they are not jointly observable in Hilbert space. The analysis shows that probabilistic interpretations of quantum measurements may depend not only on the measuring instruments and the system states but also on the geometric space in which the measurements are conducted. In particular, an explicit numerical example is given of a Heisenberg measurement with a complete set of common observables that violates Bell's inequality in Minkowski space but, mutatatis mutandis, satisfies it in Hilbert space.
Bell's inequality plays an important role with respect to the Einsteinian question about the physical reality of quantum theory. While Bell's inequality is usually viewed within the geometric framework of a Hilbert space quantum model, the present note extends the theory of Heisenberg measurements to quantum systems with representations in general orthogonal geometric spaces and, in particular, the Minkowski spaces of relativity theory. A Feynmanian numerical example exhibits two measurements that admit a joint probabilistic interpretation in Minkowski space while they are not jointly observable in Hilbert space. The analysis shows that probabilistic interpretations of quantum measurements may depend not only on the measuring instruments and the system states but also on the geometric space in which the measurements are conducted. In particular, an explicit numerical example is given of a Heisenberg measurement with a complete set of common observables that violates Bell's inequality in Minkowski space but, mutatatis mutandis, satisfies it in Hilbert space.
One of the most fundamental phenomena of quantum physics is entanglement. It describes an inseparable connection between quantum systems, and properties thereof. In a quantum mechanical description even systems far apart from each other can share a common state. This entanglement of the subsystems, although arising from mathematical principles, is no mere abstract concept, but can be tested in experiment, and be utilized in modern quantum information theory procedures, such as quantum teleportation. In particular, entangled states play a crucial role in testing our understanding of reality, by violating Bell inequalities. While the role of entanglement is well studied in the realm of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics, its significance in a relativistic quantum theory is a relatively new field of interest. In this work the consequences of a relativistic description of quantum entanglement are discussed. We analyze the representations of the symmetry groups of special relativity, i.e. of the Lorentz group, and the Poincaré group, on the Hilbert space of states. We describe how unitary, irreducible representations of the Poincaré group for massive spin 1/2 particles are constructed from representations of Wigner's little group. We then proceed to investigate the role of the Wigner rotations in the transformation of quantum states under a change of inertial reference frame. Considering different partitions of the Hilbert space of 2 particles, we find that the entanglement of the quantum states appears different in different inertial frames, depending on the form of the states, the chosen inertial frames, and the particular choice of partition. It is explained, how, despite of this, the maximally possible violation of Bell inequalities is frame independent, when using appropriate spin observables, which are related to the Pauli-Ljubanski vector, a Casimir operator of the Poincaré group.
Uncertainty relations and complementarity of canonically conjugate position and momentum observables in quantum theory are discussed with respect to some general coupling properties of a function and its Fourier transform. The question of joint localization of a particle on bounded position and momentum value sets and the relevance of this question to the interpretation of position-momentum uncertainty relations is surveyed. In particular, it is argued that the Heisenberg interpretation of the uncertainty relations can consistently be carried through in a natural extension of the usual Hilbert space frame of the quantum theory.
In this thesis, entanglement under fully relativistic settings are discussed. The thesis starts with a brief review of the relativistic quantum mechanics. In order to describe the effects of Lorentz transformations on the entangled states, quantum mechanics and special relativity are merged by construction of the unitary irreducible representations of Poincar{é} group on the infinite dimensional Hilbert space of state vectors. In this framework, the issue of finding the unitary irreducible representations of Poincar{é} group is reduced to that of the little group. Wigner rotation for the massive particles plays a crucial role due to its effect on the spin polarization directions. Furthermore, the physical requirements for constructing the correct relativistic spin operator is also studied. Then, the entanglement and Bell type inequalities are reviewed. Special attention has been devoted to two historical papers, by EPR in 1935 and by J.S. Bell in 1964. The main part of the thesis is based on the Lorentz transformation of the Bell states and the Bell inequalities on these transformed states. It is shown that entanglement is a Lorentz invariant quantity. That is, no inertial observer can see the entangled state as a separable one. However, it was shown that the Bell inequality may be satisfied for the Wigner angle dependent transformed entangled states. Since the Wigner rotation changes the spin polarization direction with the increased velocity, initial dichotomous operators can satisfy the Bell inequality for those states. By choosing the dichotomous operators taking into consideration the Wigner angle, it is always possible to show that Bell type inequalities can be violated for the transformed entangled states.
The assumptions added by Bohr and concerning the Hilbert space (formed by all solutions of Schroedinger equation) changed fundamentally the original physical interpretation of these solutions proposed earlier by Schroedinger. This new alternative was refused by Einstein on the basis of the EPR Gedankenexperiment, but accepted fully for microscopic reality by scientific community. Both the quantum alternatives were discussed, however, again later. Bell tried to find a possibility how to decide between them; he generalized Einstein's Gedankenexperiment assuming that also spins of two detected particles would be measured. He derived then some inequality for a special combination of four coincidence probabilities, and it was commonly assumed that his inequality held for the original Schroedinger interpretation but not in Bohr's Copenhagen quantum mechanics; without any actual proof having been given. Corresponding experiments were proposed and finished in 1982. The violation of Bell's inequality was then interpreted as decisive victory of Bohr's theory. However, it will be shown that Bell's inequality has been interpreted mistakenly. It has been based always on some assumption that does not hold in any probabilistic theory (i.e., in the given spin experiment) but only in deterministic classical theory. There is not any argument for preferring the Copenhagen quantum mechanics and against Einstein's critical standpoint. Some other consequences will be mentioned, too.
Bipartite quantum entangled systems can exhibit measurement correlations that violate Bell inequalities, revealing the profoundly counter-intuitive nature of the physical universe. These correlations reflect the impossibility of constructing joint probability distribution for all values of all the different properties observed in Bell inequality tests. Physically, the impossibility of measuring such distribution experimentally, as set of relative frequencies, is due to the quantum back-action of projective measurements. Weakly coupling to quantum probe, however, produces minimal back-action, and so enables weak measurement of the projector of one observable, followed by projective measurement of non-commuting observable. By this technique it is possible to empirically measure probabilities for all of the values of the observables relevant to Bell test. The marginals of this joint distribution, which we experimentally determine, reproduces all of the observable quantum statistics including violation of the Bell inequality, which we independently measure. This is possible because our distribution, like the weak values for projectors on which it is built, is not constrained to the interval [0, 1]. It was first pointed out by Feynman that, for explaining singlet-state correlations within a [local] hidden variable view of nature ... everything works fine if we permit negative probabilities. However, there are infinitely many such theories. Our method, involving weak-valued singles out unique set of probabilities, and moreover does so empirically.
The logical foundations of Bell's inequality are reexamined. We argue that the form of the reality condition that underpins Bell's inequality comes from the requirement of solving the quantum measurement problem. Hence any violation of Bell's inequality necessarily implies nonlocality because of the measurement problem. The differences in the implications of deterministic and stochastic formulations of Bell's inequality are highlighted. The reality condition used in Bell's inequality is shown to be a generalisation of Einstein's later form of realism.