dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaOn an attempt to resolve the EPR-Bell paradox via Reichenbachian concept of common cause
| Authors | Laszlo E. Szabo |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/9806074 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9806074 |
| DOI | 10.1023/A:1003691216444 |
| Journal | International Journal of Theoretical Physics 39 (2000) 901--911 |
Abstract
Reichenbach's Common Cause Principle claims that if there is correlation between two events and none of them is directly causally influenced by the other, then there must exist a third event that can, as a common cause, account for the correlation. The EPR-Bell paradox consists in the problem that we observe correlations between spatially separated events in the EPR-experiments, which do not admit common-cause-type explanation; and it must therefore be inevitably concluded, that, contrary to relativity theory, in the realm of quantum physics there exists action at a distance, or at least superluminal causal propagation is possible; that is, either relativity theory or Reichenbach's common cause principle fails. By means of closer analyses of the concept of common cause and a more precise reformulation of the EPR experimental scenario, I will sharpen the conclusion we can draw from the violation of Bell's inequalities. It will be explicitly shown that the correla-tions we encounter in the EPR experiment could have common causes; that is, Reichen-bach's Common Cause Principle does not fail in quantum mechanics. Moreover, these common causes satisfy the locality conditions usually required. In the Revised Version of the paper I added a Postscript from which it turns out that the solution such obtained is, contrary to the original title, incomplete. It turns out that a new problem arises: some combinations of the common cause events do statistically cor-relate with the measurement operations.
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"abstract": "Reichenbach\u0027s Common Cause Principle claims that if there is correlation\nbetween two events and none of them is directly causally influenced by the\nother, then there must exist a third event that can, as a common cause, account\nfor the correlation. The EPR-Bell paradox consists in the problem that we\nobserve correlations between spatially separated events in the EPR-experiments,\nwhich do not admit common-cause-type explanation; and it must therefore be\ninevitably concluded, that, contrary to relativity theory, in the realm of\nquantum physics there exists action at a distance, or at least superluminal\ncausal propagation is possible; that is, either relativity theory or\nReichenbach\u0027s common cause principle fails. By means of closer analyses of the\nconcept of common cause and a more precise reformulation of the EPR\nexperimental scenario, I will sharpen the conclusion we can draw from the\nviolation of Bell\u0027s inequalities. It will be explicitly shown that the\ncorrela-tions we encounter in the EPR experiment could have common causes; that\nis, Reichen-bach\u0027s Common Cause Principle does not fail in quantum mechanics.\nMoreover, these common causes satisfy the locality conditions usually required.\nIn the Revised Version of the paper I added a Postscript from which it turns\nout that the solution such obtained is, contrary to the original title,\nincomplete. It turns out that a new problem arises: some combinations of the\ncommon cause events do statistically cor-relate with the measurement\noperations.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/9806074",
"authors": [
"Laszlo E. Szabo"
],
"categories": [
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"doi": "10.1023/A:1003691216444",
"journal_ref": "International Journal of Theoretical Physics 39 (2000) 901--911",
"title": "On an attempt to resolve the EPR-Bell paradox via Reichenbachian concept of common cause",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9806074"
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