A Chorus of Bells

Why QBism is not the Copenhagen interpretation and what John Bell might have thought of it

Christopher Fuchs and Rüdiger Schack have developed a way of understanding science, which, among other things, resolves many of the conceptual puzzles of quantum mechanics that have vexed people for the past nine decades. They call it QBism. I speculate on how John Bell might have reacted to QBism, and I explain the many ways in which QBism differs importantly from the orthodox ways of thinking about quantum mechanics associated with the term "Copenhagen interpretation."

John Bell's varying interpretations of quantum mechanics

Various interpretations of quantum mechanics, favored (or neglected) by John Bell in the context of his non-locality theorem, are compared and discussed.

Magic Moments: A Collaboration with John Bell

I want to give an impression of the time I spent together with John S. Bell, of the atmosphere of our collaboration and friendship. I briefly review our work, the methods of nonrelativistic approximations to quantum field theory for calculating the properties of heavy quark-antiquark bound states.

Causarum Investigatio and the Two Bell's Theorems of John Bell

"Bell's theorem" can refer to two different theorems that John Bell proved, the first in 1964 and the second in 1976. His 1964 theorem is the incompatibility of quantum phenomena with the joint assumptions of Locality and Predetermination. His 1976 theorem is their incompatibility with the single property of Local Causality. This is contrary to Bell's own later assertions, that his 1964 theorem began with the assumption of Local Causality, even if not by that name. Although the two Bell's theorems are logically equivalent, their assumptions are not. Hence, the earlier and later theorems sugges…

The Two Bell's Theorems of John Bell

Many of the heated arguments about the meaning of "Bell's theorem" arise because this phrase can refer to two different theorems that John Bell proved, the first in 1964 and the second in 1976. His 1964 theorem is the incompatibility of quantum phenomena with the dual assumptions of locality and determinism. His 1976 theorem is the incompatibility of quantum phenomena with the unitary property of local causality. This is contrary to Bell's own later assertions, that his 1964 theorem began with that single, and indivisible, assumption of local causality (even if not by that name). While there a…

我与 John Stewart Bell 关于量子基础的讨论

My discussions of quantum foundations with John Stewart Bell

本文回顾了作者与John Bell关于量子基础的讨论，指出BI-CHSH不等式的违反未证明量子力学完备性或非局域性，强调应谨慎对待其哲学结论。

Contextuality or nonlocality; what would John Bell choose today?

A violation of Bell-CHSH inequalities does not justify speculations about quantum non-locality, conspiracy and retro-causation. Such speculations are rooted in a belief that setting dependence of hidden variables in a probabilistic model, called a violation of measurement independence, would mean a violation of experimenters freedom of choice. This belief is unfounded because it is based on a questionable use of Bayes Theorem and on incorrect causal interpretation of conditional probabilities. In Bell-local realistic model, hidden variables describe only photonic beams created by a source, thu…

John Stuart Bell: recollections of a great scientist and a great man

This contribution to the book in honour of J.S. Bell will probably differ from the remaining ones, in particular since only a part of it will be devoted to specific technical arguments. In fact I have considered appropriate to share with the community of physicists interested in the foundational problems of our best theory the repeated interactions I had with him in the last four years of his life, the deep discussions in which we have been involved in particular in connection with the elaboration of collapse theories and their interpretation, the contributions he gave to the development of th…

Homer nodded: von Neumann's surprising oversight

We review the famous no-hidden-variables theorem in John von Neumann's 1932 book on the mathematical foundations of quantum mechanics. We describe the notorious gap in von Neumann's argument, pointed out by Grete Hermann in 1935 and, more famously, by John Bell in 1966. We disagree with recent papers claiming that Hermann and Bell failed to understand what von Neumann was actually doing.

Bell's Universe: A Personal Recollection

My collaboration and friendship with John Bell is recollected. I will explain his outstanding contributions in particle physics, in accelerator physics, and his joint work with Mary Bell. Mary's work in accelerator physics is also summarized. I recall our quantum debates, mention some personal reminiscences, and give my personal view on Bell's fundamental work on quantum theory, in particular, on the concept of contextuality and nonlocality of quantum physics. Finally, I describe the huge influence Bell had on my own work, in particular on entanglement and Bell inequalities in particle physics…

History of Quantum Mechanics or the Comedy of Errors

The goal of this paper is to explain how the views of Albert Einstein, John Bell and others, about nonlocality and the conceptual issues raised by quantum mechanics, have been rather systematically misunderstood by the majority of physicists.

The GRW flash theory: a relativistic quantum ontology of matter in space-time?

John Bell proposed an ontology for the GRW modification of quantum mechanics in terms of flashes occurring at space-time points. The paper spells out the motivation for this ontology, enquires into the status of the wave-function in it, critically examines the claim of its being Lorentz-invariant and considers whether it is a parsimonious, but nevertheless physically adequate ontology.

EPR Paradox, Quantum Nonlocality and Physical Reality

Eighty years ago Einstein demonstrated that a particular interpretation of the reduction of wave function led to a paradox and that this paradox disappeared if statistical interpretation of quantum mechanics was adopted. According to the statistical interpretation a wave function describes only an ensemble of identically prepared physical systems. Searching for an intuitive explanation of long range correlations between outcomes of distant measurements, performed on pairs of physical systems prepared in a spin singlet state, John Bell analysed local realistic hidden variable models and proved …

穿越地球的回飞镖：当自由下落不能最大化固有时间时

Boomeranging through the Earth: when free fall doesn't maximize proper time

该研究结合贝尔与惠勒的教学思路，通过思想实验指出广义相对论标准启发式的错误，验证古老时间膨胀启发式的可靠性，强调勿以新口号取代合理旧直觉。