Local hidden variable theories cannot be tested by atomic cascade experiments

John F. Clauser, Michael Horne, Abner Shimony +1 more

R. Fox

Emilio Santos

The proposal is made of replacing the usual auxiliary assumptions needed for the derivation of testable Bell inequalities by an assumption resting only on symmetry considerations. It is shown that reliable atomic cascade tests of symmetric local hidden-variables theories should combine high statistics, cascades of type 0\ensuremath{\rightarrow}1\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0, and calcite polarizers. The three conditions have been achieved in experiments already performed, but never before simultaneously.

Michael Horne

A family of theories called "deterministic local hidden variable theories" (DLHV) is characterized and their consequences are investigated for an experimentally realistic situation. An experiment on the polarization correlation of optical photon pairs emitted in certain atomic cascades is proposed as a test of the family of DLHV theories. The model-independent hidden variable predictions applicable to the realistic experimental arrangement are obtained by a generalization of a previous theorem of Bell. Quantum mechanical predictions for the same experimental situation are calculated for two cases: a J = 0 + J = 1 + J = 0 and a J = 1 + J = 1 + J = 0 electric dipole cascade. For both cascades, it is shown that the quantum mechanical and the DLHV predictions are in sufficient disagreement for an actual experimental test to be possible. Restrictions on detector solid angle and polarizer efficiency, necessary to obtain a decisive experiment, are explicitly given. The Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen argument for the existence of a DLHV theory is reviewed.

Shasanka Mohan Roy, Virendra Singh

Angel L. Sanz, J. L. Sánchez‐Gómez

We compute the probability, P , that the second photon of an atomic-cascade experiment, performed to test Bell inequalities, undergoes rescattering. In the case of the experiments of Aspect et al. , we find P ≃ 0.1; hence, the possibility that photon rescattering be a "loophole" in the experimental refutation of local hidden-variable theories is ruled out.