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arXiv:2603.18198

Bell-EPR Correlations within Local Quantum Theory

Jay Lawrence

quant-phSubmitted Mar 18, 2026• Announced Mar 20, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

We present a local unitary theory of a Bell-EPR measurement, starting with the premeasurement filtering of the individual photon polarizations and extending through the detection process involving four photodetectors, two at each receiving station. The essential feature is that decoherence occurs locally and independently with each detector upon its absorption of a photon. Communication between observers after they read their local outcomes confirms the known Bell-EPR correlations. This theory is manifestly local, but there exist other formulations, and interpretations, that are non-local.

Comments
14 pages, one figure

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We present a local unitary theory of a Bell-EPR measurement, starting with the premeasurement filtering of the individual photon polarizations and extending through the detection process involving four photodetectors, two at each receiving station. The essential feature is that decoherence occurs locally and independently with each detector upon its absorption of a photon. Communication between observers after they read their local outcomes confirms the known Bell-EPR correlations. This theory is manifestly local, but there exist other formulations, and interpretations, that are non-local.
Abstract This essay sketches a pragmatist interpretation of quantum theory and shows how to use it to explain EPR-Bell correlations consistently with relativity. Quantum theory is not a locally causal theory, not because it violates Bell’s local causality condition, but because that condition is simply inapplicable to it. Any agent can use quantum theory to show why EPR-Bell correlations are to be expected. For space-like separated measurements of vertical/horizontal polarization of each photon from a pair in Bell state Φ+, an agent’s explanation of why the distant measurement outcome matches his own appeals neither to a preferred frame nor to any direct connection or influence between these events. Here, as elsewhere, quantum theory helps one explain an initially puzzling phenomenon not by locating it in a causal net but by showing why its occurrence is just what one should have expected in the circumstances.
EPR showed that two particles emitted from a source can be entangled by a shared wavefunction where two non-commuting observables (position, momentum) can be simultaneously real, leading to a contradiction with quantum mechanics (two non-commuting variables can not be simultaneously real). John Bell derived an inequality where any local hidden variables prediction is bounded and quantum mechanics can violate the inequality. Bell tests on correlated photon pairs showed a clear violation of the Bell inequality and agreement with quantum mechanics. This study revealed that the Bell inequality holds at any individual instances in a given system but it does not hold over the entire population. The Bell inequality is not an incompatibility criterion for local hidden variables vs quantum mechanics rather it is a criterion for an individual nature vs population dynamics. The nonlocality prediction given by wavefunction is a system approximation and local causality (photon polarization) provides a complete description of the Bell tests. The paper concludes with great satisfaction that the measurement of two correlated photons at a distance was a local cause (photon-filter interaction did not violate the special theory of relativity).
In their original paper, Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen (EPR) questioned the probabilistic nature of the quantum theory using an argument based on the quantum-mechanical correlations between two distant particles which had once interacted. Bell later proved that the quantum theory and any local theory differ significantly in their predictions for these experimentally measurable correlations. It is shown that the arguments of EPR can be extended to apply equally well to certain properties of a single particle or system and that, in analogy with Bell's theorem, the predictions of the quantum theory for certain single-particle experiments are in disagreement with the predictions of any local theory. For example, based on either the quantum theory or existing experimental observations, it is possible to arrange for a photon to have a negligible probability of not being absorbed by some system of finite dimensions, such as one of a large number of atoms, within a finite time interval. It is shown that any local theory which satisfies this requirement must also require that negligible interference effects occur in an optical interferometer at sufficiently low intensities from an incoherent source in combination with sufficiently large separation LLL between the two optical paths. Time-reversal invariance is used to estimate the requirement $L\ensuremath{\gg}\frac{3{\ensuremath{\lambda}}^{2}}{4{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{2}{r}_{c}}$, where $\ensuremath{\lambda}$ is the wavelength of the light and rc{r}_{c}rc​ is the classical radius of the electron; at optical wavelengths this distance is on the order of 10 m. The same separation should also be required between the photon detectors in any optical experiment based on Bell's theorem. A review of the literature indicates that no existing experimental data, either from optical interferometers or experiments based on Bell's theorem, can be used to distinguish between the local and quantum theories. An investigation of low-intensity optical interference at large path separations is proposed for this purpose.
Quantum mechanics, despite its extraordinary success in describing microscopic phenomena, continues to raise foundational questions concerning measurement, nonlocality, and the nature of physical reality. These issues are exemplified by the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) paradox and the Bell inequality, which contrast quantum correlations with classical notions of locality and realism. In this work, we critically examine the assumptions underlying Bell’s theorem in light of the incompatible and contextual nature of quantum observables. We show that Bell’s constraint on simultaneous definite values for incompatible observables, together with the assumption of hidden variables, is not applicable to quantum mechanics itself, which is inherently nonclassical and contextual. When measurement is modeled as a local system-environment interaction within the framework of quantum decoherence, the resulting dynamics remain entirely local and unitary in the EPR scenario. Decoherence naturally selects pointer states and suppresses interference, giving rise to the appearance of wavefunction collapse consistent with quantum predictions. Importantly, the Bell correlations obtained in this framework reproduce the standard quantum results and are independent of both system-bath and inter-bath interactions, which affect only the rate of decoherence. Our analysis suggests that, in the EPR scenario, quantum mechanics can be both local and realistic when the wavefunction is treated as an ontic description of reality within the decoherence framework, offering a potential route toward a locally realistic quantum theory aligned with Einstein’s vision. This work contributes to a more rigorous foundation for quantum mechanics, providing insights that can accelerate progress in quantum computing and nanoenergy harvesting.
In derivating of Bell’s inequalities, the probability distribution is supposed to be a function only of a hidden variable. We point out that the true implication of the probability distribution of Bell’s correlation function is the distribution of joint measurement outcomes on the two sides. It is therefore a function of both the hidden variable and the settings. In this case, Bell’s inequalities fail. Our further analysis shows that Bell’s locality holds neither for dependent events nor for independent events. We think that the measurements of EPR pairs are dependent events, and hence violation of Bell’s inequalities cannot rule out the existence of local hidden variable. To explain the results of EPR-type experiments, we suppose that a polarization-entangled photon pair can be composed of two circularly or linearly polarized photons with correlated hidden variables, and a couple of experiments of quantum measurement are proposed. The first uses delayed measurement on one photon of the EPR pair to demonstrate directly whether measurement on the other could have any nonlocal influence on it. Then several experiments are suggested to reveal the components of the polarization-entangled photon pair. The last one uses successive polarization measurements on a pair of EPR photons to show that two photons with the same quantum state behave the same under the same measuring conditions.
John Stewart Bell’s famous theorem is widely regarded as one of the most important developments in the foundations of physics. Yet even as we approach the 50th anniversary of Bell’s discovery, its meaning and implications remain controversial. Many workers assert that Bell’s theorem refutes the possibility suggested by Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen (EPR) of supplementing ordinary quantum theory with “hidden” variables that might restore determinism and/or some notion of an observer-independent reality. But Bell himself interpreted the theorem very differently—as establishing an “essential conflict” between the well-tested empirical predictions of quantum theory and relativistic local causality. Our goal is to make Bell’s own views more widely known and to explain Bell’s little-known formulation of the concept of relativistic local causality on which his theorem rests. We also show precisely how Bell’s formulation of local causality can be used to derive an empirically testable Bell-type inequality and to recapitulate the EPR argument.