A Local Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

Foundations of Physics, 1994

The validity of the conclusion to the nonlocality of quantum mechanics, accepted widely today as the only reasonable solution to the EPR and Bell issues, is questioned and criticized. Arguments are presented which remove th o compelling character of this conclusion and make cleat" that it is not the most obvtuus solution. Alternative solutions are developed which are free of the contradictions related with the nonlocality conclusion. Firstly, the dependence on the adopted interpretation is shown, with the conclusion that the alleged nonlocality property of the quantum formalism may have been reached on the basis of an interpretation that is unnecessarily restrictive. Secondly, by extending the conventional quantum formalism along the lines of Ludwig and Davies it is shown that the Bell problem may be related to complementarity rather than to nonlocality. Finally, the dependence on counterfactual reason#lg is critically examhled. It appears that locality on the quantum level may still be retained provided one accepts a newly proposed principle of nonreproducibility at the individual quantum level as an alternative of quantum nonlocality. It is concluded that the locality principle can retain its general validity, in full conformity with all experimental data.

arXiv: Quantum Physics, 2019

The fully entangled Schrodinger cat state obtained immediately upon measurement of a superposed two state quantum system by a detector is often said to paradoxically predict macroscopically different outcomes simultaneously. However, nonlocal interferometry experiments and their accompanying quantum theoretical analyses, testing momentum entangled photon pairs over the full range of phases, demonstrate that the cat state does not fit this description. This state instead represents two nonlocally coherent correlations between its subsystems. Even if the detector is a cat, this state is not paradoxical. Furthermore, standard quantum theory correctly predicts the experimentally observed nonparadoxical outcomes. Thus both quantum theory and quantum experiments show there is no Schrodinger cat paradox associated with measurement. This resolves the problem of definite outcomes and, with it, the measurement problem. Upon entanglement with a detector, superpositions collapse nonlocally and ...

Quantum Engineering, 2022

The entangled “measurement state” (MS), predicted by von Neumann to arise during quantum measurement, seems to display paradoxical properties such as multiple macroscopic outcomes. But analysis of interferometry experiments using entangled photon pairs shows that entangled states differ surprisingly from simple superposition states. Based on standard quantum theory, this paper shows that the MS (i) does not represent multiple detector readings but instead represents nonparadoxical multiple statistical correlations between system states and detector readings, (ii) implies that exactly one outcome actually occurs, and (iii) implies that when one outcome occurs, the other possible outcomes simultaneously collapse nonlocally. Point (iii) resolves an issue first raised in 1927 by Einstein who demonstrated that quantum theory requires instantaneous state collapse. This conundrum’s resolution requires nonlocal correlations, which from today’s perspective suggests the MS should be an entang...

2019

The entangled "Schrodinger's cat state" obtained immediately upon measurement of a superposed two-state quantum system is often considered paradoxical because it appears to predict two macroscopically different outcomes, such as an alive and dead cat. However, nonlocal interferometry experiments testing momentum-entangled photon pairs over all phases demonstrate that the cat state does not fit this description and is not paradoxical. Both experiment and theory imply that it instead represents a superposition of two nonlocally coherent (i.e. phase-dependent) statistical correlations between its sub-systems. This is not paradoxical. Standard quantum theory rigorously predicts this state's experimentally-observed outcomes. Neither sub-system is superposed; rather, the correlations between the states of the subsystems are superposed. This resolves the problem of definite outcomes. The nonlocal properties of entanglement then ensure that only one outcome occurs while the other outcome simultaneously does not occur, resolving a problem posed by Einstein in 1927. The single outcome that occurs then triggers an irreversible process leading to macroscopic registration of the outcome. This resolves the quantum measurement problem. Collapse occurs because of entanglement and does not require a special collapse postulate. Collapse is a consequence of standard quantum physics and the irreversible nature of the macroscopic registration.

International Journal of Theoretical Physics, 1998

Proceedings of Frontiers of Fundamental Physics 14 — PoS(FFP14)

The problem of measurement taken at face value shows clearly that there is an inconsistency inside the quantum formalism. The phenomenon of decoherence is often presented as a solution to it. A widely debated question is to decide between two different interpretations. The first one is to consider that the decoherence process has the effect to actually project a superposed state into one of its classically interpretable component, hence doing the same job as the reduction postulate. For the second one, decoherence is only a way to show why no macroscopic superposed state can be observed and so, to explain the classical appearance of the macroscopic world, while the quantum entanglement between the system, the apparatus and the environment never disappears. In this case, explaining why only one single definite outcome is observed remains to do. In this paper, we examine arguments for and against both interpretations and defend a position according to which the outcome that is observed is relative to the observer in close parallel to the Everett interpretation.

diva-portal.org

Entanglement is a key resource in many quantum information schemes and in the last years the research on multi-qubit entanglement has drawn lots of attention. In this thesis the experimental generation and characterisation of multi-qubit entanglement is presented. Specifically we have prepared entangled states of up to six qubits. The qubits were implemented in the polarisation degree of freedom of single photons. We emphasise that one type of states that we produce are rotationally invariant states, remaining unchanged under simultaneous identical unitary transformations of all their individual constituents. Such states can be applied to e.g. decoherence-free encoding, quantum communication without sharing a common reference frame, quantum telecloning, secret sharing and remote state preparation schemes. They also have properties which are interesting in studies of foundations of quantum mechanics. In the experimental implementation we use a single source of entangled photon pairs, based on parametric down-conversion, and extract the first, second and third order events. Our experimental setup is completely free from interferometric overlaps, making it robust and contributing to a high fidelity of the generated states. To our knowledge, the achieved fidelity is the highest that has been observed for six-qubit entangled states and our measurement results are in very good agreement with predictions of quantum theory. We have also performed another novel test of the foundations of quantum mechanics. It is based on an inequality that is fulfilled by any non-contextual hidden variable theory, but can be violated by quantum mechanics. This test is similar to Bell inequality tests, which rule out local hidden variable theories as possible completions of quantum mechanics. Here, however, we show that non-contextual hidden variable theories cannot explain certain experimental results, which are consistent with quantum mechanics. Hence, neither of these theories can be used to make quantum mechanics complete.

2005

Measurement in science is central and flawed. The major difference between Classical Mechanics (CM) and Quantum Mechanics (QM) lie in the assumptions of measurement. In CM, all measurements were assumed to be 'harmless' and repeatable being an immediate interpretation of the algebraic variables. In QM, it has been recognized that ALL observations affect the target system but repetition of the exactly identical initial conditions are possible. There is an explicit formula used for linking the Wave-Function of 'observable' variables to arithmetic numbers uncovered in exactly repeatable experiments leading to a frequency-probabilistic interpretation of the arithmetic numbers. These assumptions are critically analyzed based on a misunderstanding of the role of measurement. The report is major part of a research programme (UET) based on a new theory of the electromagnetism (EM), centered exclusively on the interaction between electrons. All the previous papers to date in this series have presented a realistic view of the dynamics of two or more electrons as they interact only between themselves. This paper now posits a theory of how this microscopic activity is perceived by human beings in attempting to extract information about atomic systems. The standard theory of quantum mechanics is constructed on only how the micro-world appears to macro measurements-as such, it cannot offer any view of how the foundations of the world are acting when humans are NOT observing it (the vast majority of the time)-This has generated almost 100 years of confusion and contradiction at the very heart of physics. We now know that all human beings (and all our instruments) are vast collections of electrons, our information about atomic-scale can only be obtained destructively and statistically. This theory now extends the realistic model of digital electrons by adding an explicit measurement model of how our macro instruments interfere with nature's micro-systems when such attempts result in human-scale information. The focus here is on the connection between the micro-world (when left to itself) and our mental models of this sphere of material reality, via the mechanism of atomic measurements. The mathematics of quantum mechanics reflects the eigenvalues of the combined target system PLUS equipment used for measurement together. Therefore, QM has constructed a theory that inseparably conflates the ontological and epistemological views of nature. This standard approach fails to examine isolated target systems alone. It is metaphysically deficient. This critical investigation concludes that the Quantum State function (Ψ) is not a representation of physical reality, within a single atom, but a generator function for producing the average statistical results on many atoms of this type. In contrast, the present theory builds on the physical reality of micro-states of single atoms, where (in the case of hydrogen), a single electron executes a series of fixed segments (corresponding to the micro-states) across the atom between a finite number of discrete interactions between the electron and one of the positrons in the nucleus. The set of temporal segments form closed trajectories with real temporal periods, contra to Heisenberg's 'papal' decree banning such reality because of his need to measure position and momentum at all times; even though instantaneous momentum is never measured.

(Typo Corrections and minor revisions 5-10-23) The conventional analysis of both quantum product states and quantum entanglement is shown to be consistent with a local, hidden variable (LHV) model, where two spatially separated observers make independent local measurements on local wave functions that share a common random hidden source variable. A conventional quantum mechanical LHV derivation also suggests that four quanta are required to truly measure a "zero spin" singlet state, with two quanta detected by each observer. In contrast, Bell local hidden variable (BLHV) models and inequalities assume one quantum detection by each observer, which does accurately model product states, but NOT entangled states. It is also shown that quantum entanglement can be viewed as an interference phenomenon, and can be factored into a "disentangled" product of local wave functions at the two spatially separated observers. Experimental measurements of quantum entanglement appear to be measuring Bell product states, and yet see quantum entanglement; which may suggest a non-local hidden variable (NLHV) process, where a detection by one observer instantaneously modifies the wave function in transit to the other observer. However, this proposed non-local process has serious potential flaws. Alternatively, it is shown that "coincidence of clicks" measurements on local, hidden variable (LHV) entangled or product states can approximate the experimentally reported entangled behavior. Additional experiments could potentially discriminate between these interpretations of the experimental data.