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arXiv:2604.16951

Anomalous nonlocality of information masked in quantum correlations

Guang Ping He

quant-phSubmitted Apr 18, 2026• Announced Apr 21, 2026• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Although information, strictly speaking, is not a physical entity, it generally requires physical entities as its carriers, e.g., writing it down on paper, encoding it with quantum particles, or transmitting it using electro-magnetic fields. And it seems natural that these carriers cannot travel faster than light. Here we reveal that if we use quantum correlations as the carrier of information (either quantum or classical), then it can display a kind of nonlocality, which bears both similarities to and distinctions from the nonlocality of physical particles. Notably, though superluminal signaling is still not allowed so that the special relativity is not violated, it is possible to select at our will whether to decode the information at one location, or to dispatch it to another location far away (i.e., to give up the chance of decoding the information and let it be decodable in somewhere else only) without needing the assistance of classical information, so that it occurs instantaneously without being limited by the speed of light. This phenomenon differs sharply from the nonlocality of physical particles that we once knew, where whether a particle can be detected in one location or another is governed by quantum uncertainty, which cannot be chosen freely.

Comments
4 pages, 1 figure

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Although information, strictly speaking, is not a physical entity, it generally requires physical entities as its carriers, e.g., writing it down on paper, encoding it with quantum particles, or transmitting it using electro-magnetic fields. And it seems natural that these carriers cannot travel faster than light. Here we reveal that if we use quantum correlations as the carrier of information (either quantum or classical), then it can display a kind of nonlocality, which bears both similarities to and distinctions from the nonlocality of physical particles. Notably, though superluminal signaling is still not allowed so that the special relativity is not violated, it is possible to select at our will whether to decode the information at one location, or to dispatch it to another location far away (i.e., to give up the chance of decoding the information and let it be decodable in somewhere else only) without needing the assistance of classical information, so that it occurs instantaneously without being limited by the speed of light. This phenomenon differs sharply from the nonlocality of physical particles that we once knew, where whether a particle can be detected in one location or another is governed by quantum uncertainty, which cannot be chosen freely.
Two statements in physics are frequently conflated: that nothing can travel faster than light, and that two entangled particles behave as if "instantaneously" connected regardless of their separation. This paper addresses both questions together: whether a faster-than-light particle could exist and, if so, whether it would count as matter; and whether quantum entanglement actually violates the light-speed limit. Starting from the energy–velocity relation of special relativity, it is shown that massive particles cannot reach the speed of light, and the properties of hypothetical tachyons (imaginary mass, absence of a rest frame and violation of causality) are examined. Using the singlet state, the non-separability, reduced state and correlation properties of entanglement are derived, and the quantum violation of the CHSH inequality up to 2√2 is computed. Finally, via the no-signaling theorem, it is shown that entanglement produces non-local correlations without permitting superluminal communication. In conclusion, nature accommodates non-local correlations without allowing any object to travel faster than light.
This preprint clarifies a persistent category error in the interpretation of quantum mechanics and relativity by explicitly distinguishing propagation from correlation. Relativistic constraints, including the finite speed of light, apply to the transmission of energy, matter, and information through spacetime. Quantum mechanics, by contrast, permits nonlocal correlations between entangled systems that do not involve transmission, motion, or signal propagation. The apparent instantaneity of quantum effects therefore reflects the revelation of pre-existing correlation structure rather than superluminal dynamics. By maintaining this separation, the preprint shows that the finite speed of light and quantum nonlocality are not in conflict. Light is limited in speed because it propagates; quantum correlations have no speed because nothing propagates. This framing resolves common misconceptions surrounding entanglement, nonlocality, and causality without introducing hidden structures, preferred frames, or violations of relativistic invariance. The work is intended as a conceptual clarification and falsifiable interpretive framework, not a modification of quantum theory or relativity. Keywords quantum correlation nonlocality entanglement speed of light relativity causality non-signaling propagation vs correlation foundations of quantum mechanics conceptual clarification
Quantum theory shows that natural laws cannot be understood as ruling single events since the latter occur randomly. Nevertheless, the physical world shows everywhere order whose source cannot be represented by the latter. It is shown that this order is due to the presence of quantum correlations. Since their e↵ect is to reduce the space of the possible events, they can be considered as causal factors. However, being correlations, they do not display the dynamic character that would be required in order to produce a determinate e↵ect. This is why they need additional local factors in order to concur to the production of a certain event. If not so, this would even imply a violation of Einstein’s locality since correlations could be used by themselves to transmit superluminal signals. Due to such a character of correlation, they can be understood as kind of potential reality needing actual (and local) context to be e↵ective. This allows also a distinction that is classically unknown between locality and globality. Such a distinction solves the important problem of measurement showing that ultimately we have irreversible local processes while globally everything is still reversible. In particular, it is a shift of information that can explain this local phenomenon. In fact, quantum systems are essentially information and also the measurement process is ultimately a dealing with information: information processing (preparing a system), information sharing (coupling a system with an apparatus) and information selection (detecting). State, observable and property appear as equivalence classes of these three procedures, respectively. Finally, the distinction between interpreted and uninterpreted ontology is considered in a Kantian perspective, but it is also shown that the approach supported here is rather a critical realism.
Quantum mechanics discovers fascinating concepts like entanglement, in which subatomic particles stay correlated regardless of distance. Measurements on one particle instantaneously influence the other, defying classical expectations. While the principles of quantum mechanics suggest the possibility of faster-than-light information transfer, experiments such as quantum teleportation and entanglement exchange indicate this more explicitly. However, it’s crucial to distinguish this from the speed limit of light established by special relativity. This chapter argues that the superluminal aspect observed in these processes pertains to ontological information, and not the actual physical movement of micro-particles; in contrast, epistemological information, derived from measurements, remains bound by the speed of light. Microscopic particles possess both intrinsic properties (their own nature) and extrinsic properties (how they interact with the environment). This duality extends to their identity and distinguishability. Quantum teleportation experiments demonstrate that quantum reality unites quantum information within these micro-particles; in addition, quantum information can be transferred through specific quantum processes.
We study the apparent nonlocality of quantum mechanics as a transport problem. If space is a physical entity through which quantum information (QI) must be transported, then one can define its speed. If not, QI exists apart from space, making space in some sense `nonphysical'. But we can still assign a `speed' of QI to such models based on their properties. In both cases, classical information must still travel at ccc, though in the latter case the origin of local spacetime itself is a puzzle. We consider the properties of different regimes for this speed of QI, and relevant quantum interpretations. For example, we show that the Many Worlds Interpretation (MWI) is nonlocal because it is what we call `spatially complete'.
Quantum information is defined by applying the concepts of ordinary (Shannon) information theory to a quantum sample space consisting of a single framework or consistent family. A classical analogy for a spin-half particle and other arguments show that the infinite amount of information needed to specify a precise vector in its Hilbert space is not a measure of the information carried by a quantum entity with a d-dimensional Hilbert space; the latter is, instead, bounded by log2d{\mathrm{log}}_{2}dlog2​d bits (one bit per qubit). The two bits of information transmitted in dense coding are located not in one but in the correlation between two qubits, consistent with this bound. A quantum channel can be thought of as a structure or collection of frameworks, and the physical location of the information in the individual frameworks can be used to identify the location of the channel. Analysis of a quantum circuit used as a model of teleportation shows that the location of the channel depends upon which structure is employed; for ordinary teleportation it is not (contrary to Deutsch and Hayden) present in the two bits resulting from the Bell-basis measurement, but in correlations of these with a distant qubit. In neither teleportation nor dense coding does information travel backwards in time, nor is it transmitted by nonlocal (superluminal) influences. It is (tentatively) proposed that all aspects of quantum information can in principle be understood in terms of the (basically classical) behavior of information in a particular framework, along with the framework dependence of this information.