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Oxford University Press eBooks

John Stewart Bell and Twentieth-Century Physics

Andrew Charles Whitaker

Published Jun 16, 2016• 15 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract John Stewart Bell was one of the most significant physicists of the twentieth century; his work has led to a much enhanced understanding of quantum theory and what it says about the physical universe, particularly about realism, determinism, and locality. This book describes Bell's relatively humble origins and his struggles to obtain secondary and university education. It then describes his work at Harwell, where he made important theoretical contributions to the development of particle accelerators, in particular with his pioneering work on strong focussing. Later, he proved the extremely important CPT theorem. At CERN, Bell made a range of important theoretical contributions to elementary particle physics; these contributions include the physics of neutrinos, the existence of different types of neutrinos, the suitability of gauge theory for all physical interactions, and the Adler–Bell–Jackiw anomaly, which shows how classical symmetries are lost under quantum theory. In his work on quantum theory, he criticized the orthodox 'Copenhagen' interpretation of quantum theory, which did not allow the actual state of the physical world to be analysed. He showed that the famous von Neumann theorem, which claimed to show that 'hidden variables' were not allowed in quantum theory, was incorrect; his famous Bell's theorem, or Bell's inequality, showed that any such variables much be non-local. Bell's work led to greatly increased freedom in the discussion of quantum theory, and the development of quantum information theory.

DOI
10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198742999.001.0001

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John Stewart Bell and Twentieth-Century Physics: Vision and Integrity

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John Stewart Bell (1928-1990) was one of the most important figures in twentieth-century physics, famous for his work on the fundamental aspects of the century's most important theory, quantum mechanics. While the debate over quantum theory between the supremely famous physicists, Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr, appeared to have become sterile in the 1930s, Bell was able to revive it and to make crucial advances - Bell's Theorem or Bell's Inequalities. He was able to demonstrate a contradiction between quantum theory and essential elements of pre-quantum theory - locality and causality. The book gives a non-mathematical account of Bell's relatively impoverished upbringing in Belfast and his education. It describes his major contributions to quantum theory, but also his important work in the physics of accelerators, and nuclear and elementary particle physics.

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The 1960s

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During the 1960s, Bell produced his seminal work on the foundations of quantum theory, first showing that, contrary to von Neumann’s argument, hidden variable theories were allowed but then that they had to be non-local. Thus, he showed that quantum theory did not respect local causality, and he outlined experiments that could be used to test whether the assumption of local realism was true in quantum theory: Bell’s theorem, or Bell’s inequality, or Bell’s inequalities. His work was followed up by John Clauser, Abner Shimony, Michael Horne, and Richard Holt, who produced the CHSH inequality. Bell had moved to CERN, where he worked on the theory of neutrino experiments, and on nuclear and elementary particle physics, making crucial suggestions concerning the use of gauge theory for each type of physical force and also producing the Adler–Bell–Jackiw anomaly, or the ABJ anomaly.

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Abstract John Stewart Bell was one of the most significant physicists of the twentieth century; his work has led to a much enhanced understanding of quantum theory and what it says about the physical universe, particularly about realism, determinism, and locality. This book describes Bell's relatively humble origins and his struggles to obtain secondary and university education. It then describes his work at Harwell, where he made important theoretical contributions to the development of particle accelerators, in particular with his pioneering work on strong focussing. Later, he proved the extremely important CPT theorem. At CERN, Bell made a range of important theoretical contributions to elementary particle physics; these contributions include the physics of neutrinos, the existence of different types of neutrinos, the suitability of gauge theory for all physical interactions, and the Adler–Bell–Jackiw anomaly, which shows how classical symmetries are lost under quantum theory. In his work on quantum theory, he criticized the orthodox 'Copenhagen' interpretation of quantum theory, which did not allow the actual state of the physical world to be analysed. He showed that the famous von Neumann theorem, which claimed to show that 'hidden variables' were not allowed in quantum theory, was incorrect; his famous Bell's theorem, or Bell's inequality, showed that any such variables much be non-local. Bell's work led to greatly increased freedom in the discussion of quantum theory, and the development of quantum information theory.
John Stewart Bell (1928-1990) was one of the most important figures in twentieth-century physics, famous for his work on the fundamental aspects of the century's most important theory, quantum mechanics. While the debate over quantum theory between the supremely famous physicists, Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr, appeared to have become sterile in the 1930s, Bell was able to revive it and to make crucial advances - Bell's Theorem or Bell's Inequalities. He was able to demonstrate a contradiction between quantum theory and essential elements of pre-quantum theory - locality and causality. The book gives a non-mathematical account of Bell's relatively impoverished upbringing in Belfast and his education. It describes his major contributions to quantum theory, but also his important work in the physics of accelerators, and nuclear and elementary particle physics.
During the 1960s, Bell produced his seminal work on the foundations of quantum theory, first showing that, contrary to von Neumann’s argument, hidden variable theories were allowed but then that they had to be non-local. Thus, he showed that quantum theory did not respect local causality, and he outlined experiments that could be used to test whether the assumption of local realism was true in quantum theory: Bell’s theorem, or Bell’s inequality, or Bell’s inequalities. His work was followed up by John Clauser, Abner Shimony, Michael Horne, and Richard Holt, who produced the CHSH inequality. Bell had moved to CERN, where he worked on the theory of neutrino experiments, and on nuclear and elementary particle physics, making crucial suggestions concerning the use of gauge theory for each type of physical force and also producing the Adler–Bell–Jackiw anomaly, or the ABJ anomaly.
John Stewart Bell’s famous theorem is widely regarded as one of the most important developments in the foundations of physics. Yet even as we approach the 50th anniversary of Bell’s discovery, its meaning and implications remain controversial. Many workers assert that Bell’s theorem refutes the possibility suggested by Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen (EPR) of supplementing ordinary quantum theory with “hidden” variables that might restore determinism and/or some notion of an observer-independent reality. But Bell himself interpreted the theorem very differently—as establishing an “essential conflict” between the well-tested empirical predictions of quantum theory and relativistic local causality. Our goal is to make Bell’s own views more widely known and to explain Bell’s little-known formulation of the concept of relativistic local causality on which his theorem rests. We also show precisely how Bell’s formulation of local causality can be used to derive an empirically testable Bell-type inequality and to recapitulate the EPR argument.
John Bell’s mother was highly supportive of him and, from an early age, he was extremely interested in physics. However, the family’s lack of money meant that Bell was lucky to be able to get through secondary education and then go on to university. At Queen’s University Belfast, he had excellent teachers, including Karl George Emeléus and Peter Paul Ewald, and performed exceptionally well. He became extremely concerned about the structure of quantum theory and its Copenhagen interpretation, or orthodox interpretation, particularly its lack of realism and determinism, the fact that it dealt only with the results of measurement rather than the actual physical state of any system, and the ‘shifty split’ between the system, which was treated by quantum theory, and the apparatus, which was treated by classical theory. In opposition to John von Neumann’s approach to quantum measurement, he supported the idea of hidden variables in quantum theory.
John St. Bell was a physicist working most of his time at CERN and contributing intensively and sustainably to the development of Particle Physics and Collider Physics. As a hobby he worked on so-called "foundations of quantum theory", that was that time very unpopular, even considered to be scientifically taboo. His 1964-theorem, showing that predictions of local realistic theories are different to those of quantum theory, initiated a new field in quantum physics: quantum information theory. The violation of Bell's theorem, for instance, is a necessary and sufficient criterion for generating a secure key for cryptography at two distant locations. This contribution shows how Bell's theorem can be brought to the realm of high energy physics and presents the first conclusive experimental feasible test for weakly decaying neutral mesons on the market. Strong experimental and theoretical limitations make a Bell test in weakly decaying systems such as mesons and hyperons very challenging, however, these systems show an unexpected and puzzling relation to another big open question: why is our Universe dominated by matter, why did the antimatter slip off the map? This long outstanding problem becomes a new perspective via the very idea behind quantum information.
In 1935, Albert Einstein and two colleagues, Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen (EPR) developed a thought experiment to demonstrate what they felt was a lack of completeness in quantum mechanics (QM). EPR also postulated the existence of more fundamental theory where physical reality of any system would be completely described by the variables/states of that fundamental theory. This variable is commonly called hidden variable and the theory is called hidden variable theory (HVT). In 1964, John Bell proposed an empirically verifiable criterion to test for the existence of these HVTs. He derived an inequality, which must be satisfied by any theory that fulfill the conditions of locality and reality. He also showed that QM, as it violates this inequality, is incompatible with any local-realistic theory. Later it has been shown that Bell’s inequality (BI) can be derived from different set of assumptions and it also find applications in useful information theoretic protocols. In this review, we will discuss various foundational as well as information theoretic implications of BI. We will also discuss about some restricted nonlocal feature of quantum nonlocality and elaborate the role of Uncertainty principle and Complementarity principle in explaining this feature.