Hidden assumptions in decoherence theory

Quantum Computation in Brain Microtubules? Decoherence and Biological Feasibility

The Penrose-Hameroff (`Orch OR') model of quantum computation in brain microtubules has been criticized as regards the issue of environmental decoherence. A recent report by Tegmark finds that microtubules can maintain quantum coherence for only $10^{-13}$ s, far too short to be neurophysiologically relevant. Here, we critically examine the assumptions behind Tegmark's calculation and find that: 1) Tegmark's commentary is not aimed at an existing model in the literature but rather at a hybrid that replaces the superposed protein conformations of the `Orch OR' theory with a soliton in superposi…

The hidden assumptions of Frauchiger and Renner

This note is a critical examination of the argument of Frauchiger and Renner (Nature Communications 9:3711 (2018)), in which they claim to show that three reasonable assumptions about the use of quantum mechanics jointly lead to a contradiction. It is shown that further assumptions are needed to establish the contradiction, and that each of these assumptions is invalid in some version of quantum mechanics.

Experimental violation of the Leggett-Garg inequality under decoherence

Despite the great success of quantum mechanics, questions regarding its application still exist and the boundary between quantum and classical mechanics remains unclear. Based on the philosophical assumptions of macrorealism and noninvasive measurability, Leggett and Garg devised a series of inequalities (LG inequalities) involving a single system with a set of measurements at different times. Introduced as the Bell inequalities in time, the violation of LG inequalities excludes the hidden-variable description based on the above two assumptions. We experimentally investigated the single photon…

松弛的贝尔不等式作为测量依赖性与隐藏性之间的权衡关系

Relaxed Bell inequalities as a trade-off relation between measurement dependence and hiddenness

本文引入隐变量隐藏性的量化方法，推导出适用于任何局部隐变量理论的隐藏性与测量依赖性之间的新权衡关系，推广了贝尔-CHSH不等式。

Time as a statistical variable and intrinsic decoherence

We propose a novel approach to intrinsic decoherence without adding new assumptions to standard Quantum Mechanics. We generalize the Liouville equation just by requiring the dynamical semigroup property of time evolution and dropping the unitarity requirement. With no approximations and specific statistical assumptions we find a generalized Liouville equation which depends on two characteristic time t1 and t2 and reduces to the usual equation in the limit t1 = t2 --> 0. However, for t1 and t2 arbitrarily small but finite, our equation can be written as a finite difference equation which predic…

Time as a statistical variable and intrinsic decoherence

We propose a novel approach to intrinsic decoherence without adding new assumptions to standard quantum mechanics. We generalize the Liouville equation just by requiring the dynamical semigroup property of time evolution and dropping the unitarity requirement. With no approximations and statistical assumptions we find a generalized Liouville equation which depends on two characteristic time t1 and t2 and reduces to the usual equation in the limit t1 = t2 -> 0. However, for t1 and t2 arbitrarily small but finite, our equation can be written as a finite difference equation which predicts state r…

A counter-argument to "Hidden variable models for quantum theory cannot have any local part" arXiv:0801.2218

Colbeck and Renner [arXiv:0801.2218] analyzed a class of combined models for entanglements in which local and non-local hidden variables cooperate for producing the measurement results. They came to the conclusion that the measurement results are fully independent of the local components of the hidden variables. Their conclusion is based mainly on an assumption on the local hidden variables, assumption similar to the non-signaling property of probabilities of observables' values. In the present text it is proved that hidden variables are not observables, so their distributions of probabilities…

A simple hidden variable experiment

An experiment is described which proves, using single photons only, that the standard hidden variables assumptions (commonly used to derive Bell inequalities) are inconsistent with quantum mechanics. The analysis is very simple and transparent. In particular, it demonstrates that a classical wave model for quantum mechanics is not ruled out by experiments demonstrating the violation of the traditional hidden variable assumptions.

Von Neumann's No Hidden Variable Theorem

Von Neumann use 4 assumptions to derive the Hilbert space (HS) formulation of quantum mechanics (QM). Within this theory dispersion free ensembles do not exist. To accommodate a theory of quantum mechanics that allow dispersion free ensemble some of the assumptions need be modified. An existing formulation of QM, the phase space (PS) formulation allow dispersion free ensembles and thus is qualifies as an hidden variable theory. Within the PS theory we identify the violated assumption (dubbed I in the text) to be the one that requires that the value r for the quantity $\mathbb{R}$ implies the v…

An impossibility theorem for Parameter Independent hidden variable theories

Recently, Roger Colbeck and Renato Renner (C&R) have claimed that '[n]o extension of quantum theory can have improved predictive power'. If correct, this is a spectacular impossibility theorem for hidden variable theories, which is more general than the theorems of Bell and Leggett. C&R's claim essentially means that in any hidden variable theory that is compatible with quantum-mechanical predictions, probabilities of measurement outcomes are independent of these hidden variables. On closer inspection, however, the generality and validity of the claim can be contested. First, it is based on an…

Tests of hidden variable models by the relaxation of the measurement independence condition

Bell inequalities or Bell-like experiments are supposed to test hidden variable theories based on three intuitive assumptions: determinism, locality and measurement independence. If one of the assumptions of Bell inequality is properly relaxed, the probability distribution of the singlet state, for example, can be reproduced by a hidden variable model. Models that deal with the relaxation of some condition above, with more than one hidden variable, have been studied in the literature nowadays. In this work the relation between the number of hidden variables and the degree of relaxation necessa…

On the Ollivier-Poulin-Zurek definition of objectivity

The Ollivier-Poulin-Zurek definition of objectivity provides a philosophical basis for the environment as witness formulation of decoherence theory and hence for quantum Darwinism. It is shown that no account of the reference of the key terms in this definition can be given that does not render the definition either empty or circular. It is argued that this is not the fault of the language used, but of the assumption that the laws of physics are independent of Hilbert-space decomposition. All evidence suggests that this latter assumption is true. If it is, decoherence cannot explain the emerge…

Minimal assumption derivation of a Bell-type inequality

John Bell showed that a big class of local hidden-variable models stands in conflict with quantum mechanics and experiment. Recently, there were suggestions that empirical adequate hidden-variable models might exist, which presuppose a weaker notion of local causality. We will show that a Bell-type inequality can be derived also from these weaker assumptions.

Phase Space Formulation of Quantum Mechanics as an Hidden Variables Theory

An hidden variable (hv) theory is a theory that allows globally dispersion free ensembles. We demonstrate that the Phase Space formulation of Quantum Mechanics (QM) is an hv theory with the position q, and momentum p as the hv. Comparing the Phase space and Hilbert space formulations of QM we identify the assumption that led von Neumann to the Hilbert space formulation of QM which, in turn, precludes global dispersion free ensembles within the theory. The assumption, dubbed I, is: "If a physical quantity $\mathbf{A}$ has an operator $\hat{A}$ then $f(\mathbf{A})$ has the operator $f(\hat{A})$"…

The whole is greater than the sum of the parts: on the possibility of purely statistical interpretations of quantum theory

The Pusey-Barrett-Rudolph theorem (PBR) claims to rule out the possibility of a purely statistical interpretation of the quantum state under an assumption of how to represent independent operations in any hidden variable model. We show that PBR's assumption of independence encodes an assumption of local causality, which is already known to conflict with the predictions of quantum theory via Bell-type inequalities. We devise a weaker formulation of independence within a general hidden variable model that is empirically indistinguishable from the PBR assumption in situations where certain hidden…

Hidden assumptions in the derivation of the Theorem of Bell

John Bell's inequalities have already been considered by Boole in 1862. Boole established a one-to-one correspondence between experimental outcomes and mathematical abstractions of his probability theory. His abstractions are two-valued functions that permit the logical operations AND, OR and NOT and are the elements of an algebra. Violation of the inequalities indicated to Boole an inconsistency of definition of the abstractions and/or the necessity to revise the algebra. It is demonstrated in this paper, that a violation of Bell's inequality by Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen type of experiments can…

Examining a Hidden Assumption of Bell's Theorem and Counterexamples to Bell's Theorem in the Space of All Paths for a Quantum System

This paper implements in a simple but rigorous fashion a model of particle interaction involving all paths within a quantum system, both for configuration space and for spin. The model, which we call the space of all paths, leads to a locally explicable conceptual framework for quantum mechanics. Using it we present two counterexamples to Bell's theorem. Moreover, we show that the result places severe constraints on possible viable interpretations of quantum mechanics: Either an interpretation must in some form represent a quantum system in terms of all paths within the system or, alternativel…

An Analysis of Stapp's "A Bell-type theorem without hidden variables"

H. P. Stapp has proposed a number of demonstrations of a Bell-type theorem which dispensed with an assumption of hidden variables, but relied only upon locality together with an assumption that experimenters can choose freely which of several incompatible observables to measure. In recent papers his strategy has centered upon counterfactual conditionals. Stapp's paper in American Journal of Physics, 2004, replies to objections raised against earlier expositions of this strategy and proposes a simplified demonstration. The new demonstration is criticized, several subtleties in the logic of coun…

Testing Superdeterministic Conspiracy

Tests of Bell's theorem rule out local hidden variables theories. But any theorem is only as good as the assumptions that go into it, and one of these assumptions is that the experimenter can freely chose the detector settings. Without this assumption, one enters the realm of superdeterministic hidden variables theories and can no longer use Bell's theorem as a criterion. One can like or not like such superdeterministic hidden variables theories and their inevitable nonlocality, the real question is how one can test them. Here, we propose a possible experiment that could reveal superdeterminis…

An explicit contextualized hidden variable model replicating an indivisible quantum system

Recent experiments and theory have further illuminated the concept of "quantum contextuality". In this paper we take an inequality - the Pentagram (or KCBS) inequality, which is violated by an unentangled spin-1 system - and given a relaxed assumption of non-contextuality show that a hidden variable model may be constructed that replicates exactly the quantum bound. This is in contrast to the case of an entangled pair of spin-1/2 particles where a similar relaxation of the assumption of locality does not lead to a replication of the quantum bound. Some reasons are proposed for why this may be …

由隐变量动力学引发的Bell不等式中的测量依赖性

Measurement dependence in a Bell inequality arising from the dynamics of hidden variables

该研究针对Bell不等式的测量独立性假设，提出将测量建模为系统与测量装置相互作用驱动隐变量趋向吸引子的动力学过程，可从观测关联推断测量前隐变量分布，并探究了不同动力学模型对测量依赖性的影响。

Hidden-variable theory versus Copenhagen quantum mechanics

The main assumptions the Copenhagen quantum mechanics has been based on will be summarized and the known (not yet decided) contradiction between Einstein and Bohr will be newly analyzed. The given assumptions have been represented basically by time-dependent Schroedinger equation, to which some further assumptions have been added. Some critical comments have been raised against the given mathematical model structure by Pauli (1933) and by Susskind and Glogover (1964). They may be removed if only the Schroedinger equation is conserved and the additional assumptions are abandoned, as shown recen…

The derivation of Bell inequalities for beables

The derivation of Bell inequalities for beables is well-known to require a "no-conspiracy" assumption. This assumption is widely accepted, the alternative being correlations between instrument settings and hidden beables. Two further assumptions are identified here: (1) a "no-contextuality" assumption, similar to the prohibition of contextuality that is required to derive the Kochen-Specker theorem, which is closely related to the "no-conspiracy" assumption; (2) a "no-correlation" assumption, which prohibits correlations between hidden beables. The three assumptions together are less acceptabl…

All quantum observables in a hidden-variables model must commute simultaneously

Under a standard set of assumptions for a hidden-variables model for quantum events, we show that all observables must commute simultaneously. And, despite Bell's complaint that a key condition of von Neumann's was quite unrealistic, we show these these conditions are entirely equivalent to those later introduced by Bell, Kochen and Specker. As is it known that these conditions are also equivalent to those under which the Bell-Clauser-Horne inequalities are derived, we see that any experimental violations of the inequalities demonstrate only that quantum observables do not commute.The same con…

Bell's Theorem Without Hidden Variables

Experiments motivated by Bell's theorem have led some physicists to conclude that quantum theory is nonlocal. However, the theoretical basis for such claims is usually taken to be Bell's Theorem, which shows only that if certain predictions of quantum theory are correct, and a strong hidden-variable assumption is valid, then a certain locality condition must fail. This locality condition expresses the idea that what an experimenter freely chooses to measure in one spacetime region can have no effect of any kind in a second region situated spacelike relative to the first. The experimental resul…

Non-Contextual and Local Hidden-Variable Model for the Peres-Mermin and Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger Systems

A hidden-variable model for quantum-mechanical spin, as represented by the Pauli spin operators, is proposed for systems illustrating the well-known no-hidden-variables arguments by Peres and Mermin (1990) and by Greenberger, Horne, and Zeilinger (1989). Both arguments rely on an assumption of non-contextuality; the latter argument can also be phrased as a non-locality argument, using a locality assumption. The model suggested here is compatible with both assumptions. This is possible because the scalar values of spin observables are replaced by vectors that are components of orientations.

Realistic theory of microscopic phenomena; a new solution of hidden-variable problem

It has been shown that quantum paradoxes have followed from one special assumption, i.e., from attributing basic physical meaning to Hamiltonian eigenfunctions and representing all physical states by vectors of the Hilbert space spanned on these eigenfunctions. However, any paradoxical properties disappear if the physical states are represented by vectors from the extended Hilbert space on which the scattering theory of Lax and Phillips has been based. On the other side, all stationary characteristics and experimentally verified quantum-mechanical predictions remain the same. The extended math…

The assumption in Bell's inequalities and entanglement problem

Bell derived the given inequalities on the basis of one rather forceful assumption that was supposed to hold in the hidden variable theory. However, this assumption has been so strong that it has corresponded only to the classical physics; any dependence on spin orientations of individual objects (i.e., on quantum characteristics) having been practically excluded. And consequently, the hidden-variable theory has not been refused by corresponding experimental data. On the other side, Einstein's criticism of Copenhagen quantum mechanics based on ontological approach refusing nonlocality has been…

Optical tests of Bell's inequalities not resting upon the absurd fair sampling assumption

A simple local hidden-variables model is exhibited which reproduces the results of all performed tests of Bell\'{}s inequalities involving optical photon pairs. For the old atomic-cascade experiments, like Aspect\'{}s, the model agrees with quantum mechanics even for ideal set-ups. For more recent experiments, using parametric down-converted photons, the agreement occurs only for actual experiments, involving low efficiency detectors. Arguments are given against the fair sampling assumption, currently combined with the results of the experiments in order to claim a contradiction with local rea…

Deconstructing Decoherence

The study of environmentally induced superselection and of the process of decoherence was originally motivated by the search for the emergence of classical behavior out of the quantum substrate, in the macroscopic limit. This limit, and other simplifying assumptions, have allowed the derivation of several simple results characterizing the onset of environmentally induced superselection; but these results are increasingly often regarded as a complete phenomenological characterization of decoherence in any regime. This is not necessarily the case: The examples presented in this paper counteract …

On The Significance of Bell's Locality Condition

Reviewing the general representation of a stochastic local hidden variables theory in the context of an ideal Bohm's version of the EPR experiment, we show explicitly that the violation of Bell's locality condition is due to the assumption of ``outcome independence'' at the hidden variables level. Also, we show that if we introduce determinism, the assumption of outcome independence will be allowed.

On the Unconditional Validity of J. von Neumann's Proof of the Impossibility of Hidden Variables in Quantum Mechanics

The impossibility of theories with hidden variables as an alternative and replacement for quantum mechanics was discussed by J. von Neumann in 1932. His proof was criticized as being logically circular, by Grete Hermann soon after, and as fundamentally flawed, by John Bell in 1964. Bell's severe criticism of Neumann's proof and the explicit (counter) example of a hidden variable model for the measurement of a quantum spin are considered by most researchers, though not all, as the definitive demonstration that Neumann's proof is inadequate. Despite being an argument of mathematical physics, an …

Hidden probe attacks on ultralong fiber laser key distribution systems

In ultralong fiber laser key distribution, two sides use standard optical equipment to create kilometer long fiber lasers in a communication link to establish a secret key. Its security rests on the assumption that any attacker would need much more sophisticated equipment and techniques than those of the legitimate user in order to discover the generated key. We present a challenge to that assumption with a hidden probe attack in which the eavesdropper hides a weak signal in the unavoidable noise floor that appears in the laser during amplification and probes with it the configuration of one o…