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A case for local realism

Daniel Shanahan

Published Nov 1, 2013• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

The Schrodinger cat states supposed by quantum mechanics need not be considered intrinsically probabilistic or otherwise inconsistent with the existence of the particle in the physically real state assumed by classical physics. The further states contemplated by the formalism of standard quantum mechanics could be states, not of the particle itself, but of the apparatus - oscillatory disturbances induced by reaction as the particle is measured and mimicking the wave characteristics of a particle. If quantum states are understood in this way, much of what has seemed mysterious in quantum behaviour becomes consistent with local realism.

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The Schrodinger cat states supposed by quantum mechanics need not be considered intrinsically probabilistic or otherwise inconsistent with the existence of the particle in the physically real state assumed by classical physics. The further states contemplated by the formalism of standard quantum mechanics could be states, not of the particle itself, but of the apparatus - oscillatory disturbances induced by reaction as the particle is measured and mimicking the wave characteristics of a particle. If quantum states are understood in this way, much of what has seemed mysterious in quantum behaviour becomes consistent with local realism.
cat states are explained in a manner consistent with local realism. It is assumed that the particle is some physically real state at all times, albeit that this state may change as the particle adopts one or other channel of an apparatus. Each further quantum state associated with the particle will then be, not a state of the particle itself, but a state of the apparatus - a wave-like reaction in the apparatus of equal but opposite eect to the change in the particle and mimicking the eects of a particle as it propagates through the experiment. In view of the success of standard quantum mechanics (SQM), and the compelling example of self interference, it can hardly be doubted that, at least in some formal sense, the alternative Schrodinger cat states supposed by SQM must exist. However, we argue that these states need not be considered intrinsically probabilistic or otherwise inconsistent with the local realism of classical physics. Assuming that the particle itself is in some physically real state at all times, any further quantum state associated with that particle could simply be an excitation of the apparatus - an oscillatory disturbance that is of equal but opposite eect to the change in the particle and creates the illusion of a further particle state. From Newton's third law, or equivalently conservation, any change in a particle must be accompanied by a change of equal but opposite eect in the agency inducing that change. It is also known that every particle, whether massive or massless, has wave characteristics consistent with its dynamic properties, namely from the Planck-Einstein relation, E = ~!; a frequency !, and from the de Broglie relation, p = ~�; a wave vector �, whereE and p are respectively the energy and momentum of the particle, and ~ is the reduced Planck's constant. Thus what is imparted by particle to scattering agency is never simply some undierentiated amount of four-momentum, but a wave-like disturbance of equal but opposite eect to the change in the particle. All that need be explained then is why the reaction that occurs in the apparatus as a particle is measured should so emulate the eects of a particle as to create the illusion that the particle has somehow divided between available paths. And yet, the simulation
All the experiments that prove that Einstein is wrong and Bohr won have a serious flaw or loophole that is difficult to overcome — Have to subjectively judge the state of the system before the measurement. Undoubtedly, the establishment of quantum mechanics of local realism is a strong support for Einstein. Many people are dissatisfied with the quantum mechanics of non-local realism and want to establish the quantum mechanics of local realism. But they did not break through the bottleneck. The concept of wave function is widely used in existing quantum mechanics. However, the nature of the wave function is unanswerable. The model of "real wave curling inside the particle" determines that the wave function is the motion equation of localized real wave. The wave mechanics based on such wave functions is quantum mechanics of localized realism. The mathematical formal system of local realism quantum mechanics is the same as the existing one. Explanation of double slit diffraction can be experiment by directional quantization. The explanation system of local realism quantum mechanics is established, and it is guaranteed that this system can also be organically combined with the existing mathematical formal systems of quantum mechanics. Local realism quantum mechanics has all the elements of a valuable new theory, and its birth conforms to the law of theoretical development.
A large number of physicists now admit that quantum mechanics is a non-local theory. EPR argument and the many experiences (including recent “loop-hole free” tests) showing the violation of Bell’s inequalities seem to have confirmed convincingly that quantum mechanics cannot be local. Nevertheless, this conclusion can only be drawn inside a standard realist framework assuming an ontic interpretation of the wave function and viewing the collapse of the wave function as a real change of the physical state of the system. We show that this standpoint is not mandatory and that if the collapse is no more considered as an actual physical change, it is possible to recover locality.
The belief that quantum mechanics (QM) does not admit a realistic interpretation is widespread. According to some scholars concerned with the foundations of QM all existing interpretations of this theory (except for the statistical interpretation) presuppose instead a form of realism which consists in assuming that QM deals with individual objects and their properties. We uphold in the present paper that the arguments supporting the contextuality and the nonlocality of QM are a significant clue to the implicit adoption of stronger forms of realism (realism of theoretical entities and realism of theories). If these kinds of realism are substituted by a simpler and more intuitive semantic realism one can contrive a noncontextual and local interpretation of the formalism of QM (SR interpretation). Moreover one can provide a model for such an interpretation (ESR model) in which local realism and QM do not conflict and some fundamental problems of the standard interpretation of QM are avoided.
One of the fundamental conceptual difficulties in quantum mechanics arises from the fact that two of the axioms of the theory concerning the evolution of a microscopic system are contradictory. The first axiom assumes that the state of a quantum system evolving undisturbed by any observer obeys a linear deterministic law expressed by the SchrSdinger equation. The second one (wave-packet reduction principle) states that, when the quantum system interacts with an apparatus devised to measure some of its dynamical variables, its state changes abruptly and stochastically, jumping into a normalized eigenstate of the measured variable. This evolution is not deterministic nor linear and cannot be accounted for by the SchrSdinger equation. As a consequence the internal coherence of the theory becomes questionable. On one side the influence of the apparatus on the quantum system cannot be described as an interaction of the quantum constituents of the measuring macroscopic apparatus with the measured quantum system. On the other side, the impossibility of considering a macroscopic object as made by quantum constituents, i .e . the difficulty of quantum mechanics in describing the behaviour of macroscopic systems, is even more dramatic if we consider the evolution of the closed system consisting of the macroscopic apparatus and of the microscopic system. In such a case the appearance of superpositions of macr0scopically distinguishable states related to the apparatus cannot be avoided. These superpositions contradict both our classical experience and wave-packet reduction principle, which provides for statistical mixtures.