A SEMICLASSICALLY ENTANGLED PUZZLE
Pedro de M. Rios, M. Rios
Abstract
Abstract. For a maximally entangled eigenstate of a system of two non-interacting identical one dimensional harmonic oscilators, at the semiclassical level, it is not obviously true that a nonlinear interaction with one of the subsystems leaves the reduced semiclassical Wigner function of the other subsystem unaffected. Once stated, we advance some wild speculations regarding this seeming puzzle. 1. introduction When Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen [6] explored the “strange ” behaviour of entangled states, their main goal was to set forth an argument concerning the ontology of quantum mechanics. Only quite later, did Bell [2] show that some of the discussion had a definite empirical bearing, namely, on matters related to the nonlocal character of quantum mechanics. After the empirical confirmation of this latter [1], emphasis has been placed on the “peaceful coexistence ” [15] of this kind of nonlocality and the partial order of spacetime events derived from the principle of relativity [5]. In terms of the Wigner [17] function W, the cartesian Weyl [16] representation of the density operator ˆρ as a real function on euclidean phase space, this question is addressed in the following way: let x1 and x2 denote the phase space points of two subsystems whose total system is in an entangled eigenstate of the hamiltonian ˆ H1 + ˆ H2, with corresponding Wigner function W0(x1, x2).