The Center for Quantum Philosophy

 

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Discovering invisible causes behind the visible world

 

Photo courtesy GAP http://www.gap-optique.unige.ch

 

B ell experiments demonstrate (within the limits of a few rather eccentric loopholes) nonlocal correlations between space-like separated events, which cannot be explained by means of relativistic influences bounded by the velocity of light. This means that one has to give up the view that the outcomes at each part of the setup result from properties preexisting in the particles before measurement: outcomes in Alice's (respectively Bob's) lab cannot be explained by the properties the photon carries when leaving the source and the settings of Alice's (respectively Bob's) measuring devices.

The before-before or Suarez-Scarani experiment demonstrates that these nonlocal correlations cannot be explained in terms of "before" and "after", by time-ordered nonlocal influences. Giving up the concept of locality is not sufficient to be consistent with quantum experiments, one has to give up nonlocal determinism, i.e. the view that one event occurring before in time can be considered the cause, and the other occurring later in time the effect. The time-notion makes sense only in the domain of the relativistic local phenomena. The nonlocal correlations cannot be explained by any history in spacetime, they come from outside spacetime. This experimental result upholds the Copenhagen or orthodox interpretation of Quantum Mechanics.

The orthodox interpretation of Quantum Mechanics also claims that in entanglement experiments the local outcomes happen in a "fully random" way, i.e., according to a uniform (non-biased) random distribution. It is possible to decide experimentally between the orthodox interpretation and nonlocal random models assuming biased local outcomes. Leggett-type experiments confirm orthodox Quantum Mechanics. An even stronger confirmation of this result is expected from new experiments in progress according to the Colbeck-Renner proposal.

Putting together the results of these three experiment types one can conclude that in entanglement experiments local random events experience influences from outside spacetime to produce nonlocal order. Quantum correlations unite in the same phenomena full local randomness and nonlocal timeless order.

The Center for Quantum Philosophy, based in Zurich and Geneva, aims at wide spreading this discovery, and to stimulate the discussion about its cultural and philosophical implications.

 

In this web site, you will find:

 

bullet A talk by John Bell explaining his theorem at the CERN (Geneva), followed by an exciting discussion on scientific and philosophical issues.

bulletTutorial-presentations explaining the basic principles of the quantum world, and the relevance of the before-before experiment.

bulletA list of publications presenting the experiment and discussing his scientific, metaphysical and cultural implications.

bulletAn biographical note telling the story behind the mentioned experiment.

bulletCorrespondence with interested readers.

 

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Last updated on 29 october 2007 21:24:24 +0100.