Experimental implications of Bell's theorem

Niall Shanks

Theodore W. Schick

Roderick I. Sutherland

John F. Clauser, Abner Shimony

Bell's theorem represents a significant advance in understanding the conceptual foundations of quantum mechanics. The theorem shows that essentially all local theories of natural phenomena that are formulated within the framework of realism may be tested using a single experimental arrangement. Moreover, the predictions by those theories must significantly differ from those by quantum mechanics. Experimental results evidently refute the theorem's predictions for these theories and favour those of quantum mechanics. The conclusions are philosophically startling: either one must totally abandon the realistic philosophy of most working scientists, or dramatically revise out concept of space-time.

Florin Moldoveanu

In a series of very interesting papers [1-7], Joy Christian constructed a counterexample to Bell's theorem. This counterexample does not have the same assumptions as the original Bell's theorem, and therefore it does not represent a genuine disproof in a strict mathematical sense. However, assuming the physical relevance of the new assumptions, the counterexample is shown to be a contextual hidden variable theory. If Bell's theorem's importance is to rule out contextual hidden variable theories obeying relativistic locality, then Joy Christian's counterexample achieves its aim. If however contextual hidden variables theories are not considered genuine physically theories and Bell's theorem's importance stems from its ability to be experimentally confirmed, then Joy Christian's counterexample does not diminish the importance of Bell's theorem. The implications of Joy Christian's counterexample are discussed in the context of information theory. Version 2 note: Subsequent analysis disproved the mathematical consistency of Joy Christian's model. This paper was based on the assumption of the mathematical validity of the model. Except for the addition of this note, the content of this paper was not modified in any other way.