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Readers offer their own magic moments with John Bell N. Bykovetz
Published Nov 30, 2015 • 0 citations
Abstract I greatly enjoyed reading Reinhold Bertlmann’s article “Magic moments with John Bell.” Sprinkled with levity, it discussed Bell’s life, work, and outstanding insights and achievements in the foundations of quantum mechanics (QM). In my view, the reading should also make one acutely aware that scientists, despite our expectations of them, are sometimes still prone to the same failings that beset the rest of humanity.Bertlmann outlines very nicely Bell’s theorem and inequalities and the consequences of their violation; that work led to the subsequent startling experimental results on “entangled” quantum mechanical states, which, Bertlmann writes, showed “that nature contains a nonlocality in its structure.” Nonlocality, in Bell’s conception of it, is clearly a violation of special relativity (SR), so we have a problem. The startling thing for me is that Bell actually does appear to solve the problem, at least in principle, but at the same time he seems afraid to say so and, in fact, distances himself from the proposed solution.The essence of his ambivalence is conveyed in the following paragraph, quoted by Bertlmann:It may be that we have to admit that causal influences do go faster than light. The role of Lorentz invariance in the completed theory would then be very problematic. An “ether” would be the cheapest solution. But the unobservability of this ether would be disturbing. So would be the impossibility of “messages” faster than light.Clearly, faster-than-light propagation is not possible in SR. But it is permissible in the approximately 100-year-old ether-based Lorentzian theory of relativity (LR), developed by Joseph Larmor, Hendrik Lorentz, Henri Poincaré, and others. Bell was explicitly cognizant of LR and discussed it in his book Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics (2nd edition, Cambridge University Press, 2004). It is well known that LR and SR are totally congruent in their kinematics and dynamics, for speeds equal to or less than c. All predictions are identical. However—though one cannot find this in any standard textbooks—the LR ether theory differs from SR by allowing, without contradiction, speeds greater than c.Historically, Einstein’s SR gained ascendancy, and LR was relegated to the scrap heap of history for many reasons, but I think predominantly for the following. SR was viewed as being far more elegant and simple to develop—from the perspective of theory formation—because it followed deductively from Einstein’s two simple axioms. On the other hand, LR theory was developed from a realism perspective, where waves were thought to need a medium to wave in (the luminiferous ether).Considering that Bell was clearly aware of LR and was entertaining the idea, albeit reluctantly, of “causal influences [going] faster than light”—that is, being consonant with LR—I find it difficult to understand his expressions in the quote above about cheap solutions and disturbing features. It seems to be part of human psychology that once a set of ideas or a theory is accepted as valid for a long enough time by a community of people, as has been the case for SR, it gets transformed into belief, psychologically not unlike religious belief. Once that happens, those who would question the established dogma are treated as if the questioning was ill-intentioned, if not downright sacrilegious.© 2015 American Institute of Physics.
DOI 10.1063/pt.3.2995 Related papers Readers offer their own magic moments with John Bell
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I greatly enjoyed reading Reinhold Bertlmann’s article “Magic moments with John Bell.” Sprinkled with levity, it discussed Bell’s life, work, and outstanding insights and achievements in the foundations of quantum mechanics (QM). In my view, the reading should also make one acutely aware that scientists, despite our expectations of them, are sometimes still prone to the same failings that beset the rest of humanity.Bertlmann outlines very nicely Bell’s theorem and inequalities and the consequences of their violation; that work led to the subsequent startling experimental results on “entangled” quantum mechanical states, which, Bertlmann writes, showed “that nature contains a nonlocality in its structure.” Nonlocality, in Bell’s conception of it, is clearly a violation of special relativity (SR), so we have a problem. The startling thing for me is that Bell actually does appear to solve the problem, at least in principle, but at the same time he seems afraid to say so and, in fact, distances himself from the proposed solution.The essence of his ambivalence is conveyed in the following paragraph, quoted by Bertlmann:It may be that we have to admit that causal influences do go faster than light. The role of Lorentz invariance in the completed theory would then be very problematic. An “ether” would be the cheapest solution. But the unobservability of this ether would be disturbing. So would be the impossibility of “messages” faster than light.Clearly, faster-than-light propagation is not possible in SR. But it is permissible in the approximately 100-year-old ether-based Lorentzian theory of relativity (LR), developed by Joseph Larmor, Hendrik Lorentz, Henri Poincaré, and others. Bell was explicitly cognizant of LR and discussed it in his book Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics (2nd edition, Cambridge University Press, 2004). It is well known that LR and SR are totally congruent in their kinematics and dynamics, for speeds equal to or less than c. All predictions are identical. However—though one cannot find this in any standard textbooks—the LR ether theory differs from SR by allowing, without contradiction, speeds greater than c.Historically, Einstein’s SR gained ascendancy, and LR was relegated to the scrap heap of history for many reasons, but I think predominantly for the following. SR was viewed as being far more elegant and simple to develop—from the perspective of theory formation—because it followed deductively from Einstein’s two simple axioms. On the other hand, LR theory was developed from a realism perspective, where waves were thought to need a medium to wave in (the luminiferous ether).Considering that Bell was clearly aware of LR and was entertaining the idea, albeit reluctantly, of “causal influences [going] faster than light”—that is, being consonant with LR—I find it difficult to understand his expressions in the quote above about cheap solutions and disturbing features. It seems to be part of human psychology that once a set of ideas or a theory is accepted as valid for a long enough time by a community of people, as has been the case for SR, it gets transformed into belief, psychologically not unlike religious belief. Once that happens, those who would question the established dogma are treated as if the questioning was ill-intentioned, if not downright sacrilegious.© 2015 American Institute of Physics.
Bertlmann replies: I am pleased at the positive response of readers to my “Magic moments with John Bell.”I enjoyed very much the contributions of Charles Clement and Kerson Huang, who reported about their own “magic moments” with Bell. Their amusing anecdotes help complete the portrait of Bell, who was an outstanding personality indeed.I found the comments of Nicholas Bykovetz very interesting. I remember that Bell strongly sympathized with Lorentzian relativity and Fitzgerald contraction. In my opinion, the ether-based Lorentzian view of relativity is just closer to the heart of the realist that Bell was. I think it was the acceptance of Lorentz’s conception on relativity rather than Einstein’s that led Bell to the correct answer that a string between two equally accelerated spaceships will break, what is known as Bell’s spaceship paradox.11. J. S. Bell, Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics, 2nd ed., Cambridge U. Press (2004), p. 67. In Bell’s quote “An ‘ether’ would be the cheapest solution. But the unobservability of this ether would be disturbing,” he did not mean for the “cheapest solution” to be a derogatory phrase, but rather to mean “simple.” The “unobservability of this ether” disturbed Bell, since why should the laws of physics conspire to prevent us from identifying the ether experimentally.Regarding Robert Griffiths’s arguments, I agree with some parts but strongly disagree with others. Griffiths remarks that the specific form of the expectation value used by Bell for the joint measurement of Alice and Bob in the EPR-Bohm-Bell experiment does not make sense in the context of quantum theory with noncommuting operators. That is not the point Bell wanted to make. In his formalism, the quantum states are supplemented by hidden variables, which are governed by a classical probability distribution, in order to predetermine the measurement results.The expectation value, assigned to the local hidden-variable theory, is not applied to quantum mechanics but compared with the corresponding quantum mechanical result. Its specific form is excluded via a Bell inequality, in which a certain combination of expectation values is needed. Concentrating on the expectation value alone is not enough to distinguish local hidden variable theories from quantum mechanics; for example, the predictions of quantum mechanics can also be achieved by working with a local hidden variable theory. See reference 22. R. A. Bertlmann, J. Phys. A 47, 424007 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1088/1751-8113/47/42/424007 for a more explicit discussion.Quantum mechanics as a mathematical formalism is a theory on (mathematical) Hilbert spaces, no matter whether the quantities associated with those spaces correspond to internal degrees of freedom, like spin, or external ones, like the position. In the EPR-Bohm-Bell context, the quantum formalism contains no reference to our three-dimensional space. Nevertheless, experiments are carried out in 3D space. Alice and Bob perform joint measurements of their particles at different, very remote locations. Then this nonlocal feature turns up: A measurement by Alice on the spin of her particle does have an effect— instantaneously—on Bob’s result, in contrast to what Griffiths claims in his comments. Therefore, quantum correlations are locally inexplicable.I sympathize with some of the comments by Michael Nauenberg, who collaborated with Bell long ago on “The moral aspect of quantum mechanics.”33. J. S. Bell, M. Nauenberg, in Preludes in Theoretical Physics in Honor of V. F. Weisskopf, A. De-Shalit, H. Feshbach, L. Van Hove, eds., North-Holland (1966), p. 279. In particular, Nauenberg’s comment that “experiments have revealed that the nature of reality in the quantum world is different from our experience in the classical world” is, in my opinion, the lesson we have to learn from Bell inequalities.I do not appreciate so much Nauenberg’s example of the helium atom since it distracts from the issue of nonlocality. In fact, it is at macroscopic distances where the “puzzle” arises and not at atomic distances of separation.I have a confession: I am not the realist one might expect after reading Bell’s article “Bertlmann’s socks and the nature of reality”; the world in its very foundations is much more abstract than we think with our ”anschauliche” (intuitive) concepts, to borrow Werner Heisenberg’s term. My personal feeling is that Bell’s theorem, which reveals an apparent nonlocality in nature, points to a more radical conception whose onset we do not yet have.REFERENCESSection:ChooseTop of pageREFERENCES <<CITING ARTICLES1. J. S. Bell, Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics, 2nd ed., Cambridge U. Press (2004), p. 67. Google ScholarCrossref2. R. A. Bertlmann, J. Phys. A 47, 424007 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1088/1751-8113/47/42/424007, Google ScholarCrossref3. J. S. Bell, M. Nauenberg, in Preludes in Theoretical Physics in Honor of V. F. Weisskopf, A. De-Shalit, H. Feshbach, L. Van Hove, eds., North-Holland (1966), p. 279. Google Scholar© 2015 American Institute of Physics.
I read with pleasure Reinhold Bertlmann’s article about remembrances of John Bell and his contributions to physics. Bell is famous for establishing an inequality between the prediction of quantum mechanics and local hidden-variable theories, and Bertlmann wrote that “so far, all experiments looking for violations in Bell inequalities have found them, so we have to conclude, along with John, that nature contains a nonlocality in its structure.” But that conclusion is valid only in the context of Bell’s conviction that classical “realism is the proper position for a scientist.”Experiments have revealed that the nature of reality in the quantum world is different from our experience in the classical world.11. A. Aspect, Nature 446, 866 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/446866a Properties like the direction of an electron spin and its position and momentum remain undetermined until a measurement has been performed,22. W. Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy: The Revolution in Modern Science, Prometheus Books (1999), p. 44. 9781573926942 but the colors of Bertlmann’s socks are fixed after he puts them on. Albert Einstein’s famous quotation, “spooky action at a distance,”33. A. Einstein, M. Born, H. Born, The Born–Einstein Letters: Correspondence Between Albert Einstein and Max and Hedwig Born from 1916–1955, I. Born, trans., MacMillan (1971), p. 159. that appears in Bertlmann’s amusing cartoon, is also misleading, because quantum correlations for entangled electron or photon pairs also occur at atomic distance of separation—for example, in the ground state of the helium atom. What would be spooky is if those correlations were altered when the entangled pair moved apart without further interactions, but experiments have shown that this is not the case.REFERENCESSection:ChooseTop of pageREFERENCES <<CITING ARTICLES1. A. Aspect, Nature 446, 866 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/446866a, Google ScholarCrossref2. W. Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy: The Revolution in Modern Science, Prometheus Books (1999), p. 44. 9781573926942, Google Scholar3. A. Einstein, M. Born, H. Born, The Born–Einstein Letters: Correspondence Between Albert Einstein and Max and Hedwig Born from 1916–1955, I. Born, trans., MacMillan (1971), p. 159. Google Scholar© 2015 American Institute of Physics.
Reinhold Bertlmann’s article “Magic moments with John Bell” was a pleasure to read. I add a note concerning some later developments that are significant for understanding the implications of Bell’s quantum foundations work.The crucial point is that under the Bell locality hypothesis for a joint measurement as given in the article,E(a,b)=∫dλρ(λ)A(a,λ)·B(b,λ)the quantity λ that represents the hidden variable(s) is a classical, not a quantum, object, and ρ(λ) is a classical probability distribution. Such expressions only make sense in the context of quantum theory when the operators of interest commute with each other, but that is not the case when this expression is used to derive a Bell inequality.Many years ago Arthur Fine pointed out that hidden variables and Bell inequalities were “imposing requirements to make well defined precisely those probability distributions for noncommuting observables whose rejection is the very essence of quantum mechanics.”11. A. Fine, Phys. Rev. Lett. 48, 291 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.48.291 Thus the real issue is not one of locality but, instead, the proper use of probabilities in quantum theory.Fine’s point has been confirmed by the later development of a fully consistent way of introducing probabilities in quantum mechanics.22. R. B. Griffiths, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2014); http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qm-consistent-histories. That approach has shown that when quantum mechanics is interpreted using subspaces of the Hilbert space rather than classical hidden variables to represent physical properties, it is local: There are no ghostly nonlocal influences.We cannot know how Bell would have responded to those new developments, which only came to full fruition after his untimely death. The reader willing to dig into my somewhat tedious discussion33. R. B. Griffiths, Consistent Quantum Theory, Cambridge U. Press (2002), sec. 23.4. of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen and Bohm situation will find an explicit proof that a measurement by Alice has not the slightest effect on the spin on Bob’s side. More recent is a general argument that quantum mechanics satisfies a principle of Einstein locality: What is done to system A has no effect on system B as long as there is no interaction between the two.44. R. B. Griffiths, Found. Phys. 41, 705 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-010-9512-5Those proofs of quantum locality begin by taking very seriously John von Neumann’s proposal that quantum properties correspond to Hilbert subspaces, whose projectors do not, in general, commute with one another.55. J. von Neumann, Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, Princeton U. Press (1955), sec. 3.5. Bell, though, assumed that such properties can be represented by classical hidden variables, which always commute. Thus Bell’s theorem teaches that if one uses classical hidden variables in place of quantum properties, the result will contradict quantum theory and disagree with experiment. Indeed, while Bell started off by pointing out deficiencies in von Neumann’s argument against hidden variables, the end result of his work is an even better and much more conclusive argument, backed by experiment, for rejecting classical hidden variables.REFERENCESSection:ChooseTop of pageREFERENCES <<1. A. Fine, Phys. Rev. Lett. 48, 291 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.48.291, Google ScholarCrossref2. R. B. Griffiths, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2014); http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qm-consistent-histories. Google Scholar3. R. B. Griffiths, Consistent Quantum Theory, Cambridge U. Press (2002), sec. 23.4. Google Scholar4. R. B. Griffiths, Found. Phys. 41, 705 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-010-9512-5, Google ScholarCrossref5. J. von Neumann, Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, Princeton U. Press (1955), sec. 3.5. Google Scholar© 2015 American Institute of Physics.
It may well be that a relativistic version of the theory, while Lorentz invariant and local at the observational level, may be necessarily non-local and with a preferred frame (or aether) at the fundamental level. – John Bell [1] Introduction Bell's theorem establishes a contradiction between locality (and a few other assumptions) and certain predictions of quantum mechanics [2]. There have been two main issues surrounding the deep implications of this celebrated theorem. The first issue is basic, and it concerns whether the theorem really establishes that nonlocality is a necessary feature of any empirically viable theory and hence a feature of nature itself. One aspect of the issue concerns exactly what the underlying assumptions of Bell's theorem are. For example, some argue that these assumptions include the assumption of counterfactual definiteness [3–5], while others disagree [6–8]. The other aspect of the issue concerns which assumption should be dropped due to the resulting contradiction. Some believe that standard quantum mechanics may avoid nonlocality by denying counterfactual definiteness [3–5]. The second issue is much deeper, and it concerns how to make sense of the strange nonlocality when assuming that Bell's theorem establishes that our world is nonlocal. In particular, it has yet to be determined whether such quantum nonlocality is compatible with the theory of relativity, e.g., whether the nonlocality requires the existence of a preferred Lorentz frame [7, 9, 10]. It seems that “there is a preferred frame of reference, and in this preferred frame of reference things do go faster than light … Behind the apparent Lorentz invariance of the phenomena, there is a deeper level which is not Lorentz invariant” [11]. But it also seems possible that the existence of a preferred Lorentz frame is an illusion, since it cannot be detected according to standard quantum mechanics. A more subtle issue is whether quantum nonlocality permits superluminal signaling. It is widely thought that the answers to these questions will lead to a deeper understanding of Bell's theorem and quantum nonlocality. In this paper, we will present a new analysis of quantum nonlocality and its apparent incompatibility with relativity.
A.Einstein held an opposite attitude towards Quantum Mechanics(QM),which first appeared in 1926 and reached the top in 1935 when he,together with B.Podolsky,N.Rosen published the EPR thesis and it promotes science development in an opposite side.The EPR thesis is based on Special Relativity(SR).Both SR and EPR deny the possibility of faster-than-light.But QM allows the existence of faster-than-light,agreeing to non-locality of QM is the premise of researching in faster-than light.In 1965,during the interview John Bell confided that his unequality was the outcome of EPR thinking,which denied ultra-space effect under EPR thesis,conditions resulted in quite peculiar correlations that QM predicted.The results of Aspect’s experiments were within expectation that QM has never been wrong now and will not in the future despite of strict requirements.Undoubtedly,the experiments proved that Einstein’s ideas didn’t hold water.In Bell’s opinion,to get rid of the difficulties after the announcement of the Aspect’s experiments,it intends to go back to Lorentz and Poincare,and assume that ether existed as a referential system in which matters went faster than light.Bell repeatedly pointed out that be wanted to go back to ether because EPR had predicted there was something faster than light in the background.…… Since 1992,it is reported that there have been many successful faster than light experiments.Some of them are based on quantum tunneling effect;some are based on classic physical phenomena such as evanescent waves,anomalous dispersion.And in 2008,D.Salart et.al.performed a experiment using entangled photons between two villages separated by 18km.In conclusion,the speed of the influence of quantum entanglement would have to exceed than of light by at least four orders of magnitude,i.e.10 4 c ～ 10 7 c.Anyway,this experiment was the summation of discussions about the EPR thesis for a long time.For the past 25 years Quantum Superluminality was one subject of my chief study.In 1985,we proposed the model of quantum potential barrier equivalent circuit.In 1991,we first indicated that there could be the wave velocity v p 0 and v g 0 in the evanescent waves mode of the waveguide below cut off and the book An Introduction to the Theory of waveguide Below Cut-off made me get the First National Scientific and Technology Book Award of China.Moreover,in 2003 we through an experiment in the coaxial photonic crystal,a superluminal group velocity of(1.5 ～ 2.4) c are observed in the stop-band of frequency.In 2005,we suggested the term of General Information Velocity(GIV);and in 2010,we suggested the term of Quantum Superluminality(QS),and also suggested remodel the existing accelerator to discover the superluminal strange electron.Now,this paper discusses some problems of Quantum Superluminality profoundly,such as the velocity definition of the microscopic particles,the relation between the EPR thinking and the faster-than-light research,the interaction speed of the quantum entangle-state,superluminality of the quantum tunneling,the negative wave velocity,QS of the Casimir effect.We show that the unite of Quantum Optics(QO) and classical physical sujects are becoming more important.Since 2000,the negative group velocity experiments are always employing some atomic metal(such as Cs、Ka、Rb) vapor for tests.It make full use of the latest achievement in laser science and technology,then it was modern physical experiment in QO,not the classical physical experiment.The negative group velocity not only the special situation of faster-than-light,but also has the features: the exiting pulse’s peak can appear to exit the medium before the peak of the input pulse enters.So it was different that of classical causality.Although that knowledges and discovers of QS are widen and lively,then it greatly inspired us;but it is not the immediate conclusion that answers some questions about the possibility of material,energy and information according to faster-than-light propagation.To design the ingenious and convincing superluminal experiments are also basic task of scientists.
Introduction This contribution to the book in honour of J. S. Bell will probably differ from the remaining ones, in particular since only a part of it will be devoted to specific technical arguments. In fact I have considered it appropriate to share with the community of physicists interested in the foundational problems of our best theory the repeated interactions I had with him in the last four years of his life, the deep discussions in which we have been involved in particular in connection with the elaboration of collapse theories and their interpretation, and the contributions he gave to the development of this approach at a formal level, as well as championing it on repeated occasions. In brief, I intend to play here the role of one of those lucky persons who became acquainted with him personally, who has exchanged important views with him, who has learned a lot from his deep insight and conceptual lucidity, and, last but not least, whose scientific work has been appreciated by him. Moreover, due to the fact that this book intends to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the derivation of the fundamental inequality which bears his name, I will also devote a small part of the text to recalling his clearcut views about the locality issue, views that I believe have not been grasped correctly by a remarkable part of the scientific community. I will analyze this problem in quite general terms at the end of the paper. Some of Bell's Scientific Achievements Bell received bachelor's degrees in experimental physics and in mathematical physics at Queen'sUniversity of Belfast in the years 1948 and 1949, respectively, and a PhD in physics at the University of Birmingham. We all know very well that already at that time he was absolutely unsatisfied with the conceptual structure of quantum mechanics and with the way in which it was taught. This is significantly expressed by the statement he made during an interview to Jeremy Bernstein: I remember arguing with one of my professors, a Doctor Sloane, about that. I was getting very heated and accusing him, more or less, of dishonesty. He was getting very heated too and said, ‘You're going too far.’