Time, Finite Statistics, and Bell's Fifth Position
Richard D. Gill
备注：
28 pages; proceedings of Vaxjo conference (2002) on foundations of QM and probability. Version 2: corrected a LaTeX error (\mathbb 1 did not work)
发表信息：
pp. 179-206 in: Proc. of "Foundations of Probability and Physics - 2", Ser. Math. Modelling in Phys., Engin., and Cogn. Sc., vol. 5/2002, Växjö Univ. Press, 2003
I discuss three issues connected to Bell's theorem and Bell-CHSH-type experiments: time and the memory loophole, finite statistics (how wide are the error bars Under Local Realism), and the question of whether a loophole-free experiment is feasible, a surprising omission on Bell's list of four positions to hold in the light of his results. Levy's (1935) theory of martingales, and Fisher's (1935) theory of randomization in experimental design, take care of time and of finite statistics. I exploit a (classical) computer network metaphor for local realism to argue that Bell's conclusions are independent of how one likes to interpret probability, and give a critique of some recent anti-Bellist literature.
Bell's [Physics 1 (1964) 195-200] theorem is popularly supposed to establish the nonlocality of quantum physics. Violation of Bell's inequality in experiments such as that of Aspect, Dalibard and Roger [Phys. Rev. Lett. 49 (1982) 1804-1807] provides empirical proof of nonlocality in the real world. This paper reviews recent work on Bell's theorem, linking it to issues in causality as understood by statisticians. The paper starts with a proof of a strong, finite sample, version of Bell's inequality and thereby also of Bell's theorem, which states that quantum theory is incompatible with the con…
A recent experiment reported the first violation of a Bell correlation witness in a many-body system [Science 352, 441 (2016)]. Following discussions in this paper, we address here the question of the statistics required to witness Bell correlated states, i.e. states violating a Bell inequality, in such experiments. We start by deriving multipartite Bell inequalities involving an arbitrary number of measurement settings, two outcomes per party and one- and two-body correlators only. Based on these inequalities, we then build up improved witnesses able to detect Bell-correlated states in many-b…
Inspired by Lefschetz thimble theory, we treat Quantum Field Theory as a statistical theory with a complex Probability Distribution Function (PDF). Such complex-valued PDFs permit the violation of Bell-type inequalities, which cannot be violated by a real-valued, non-negative PDF. In this paper, we consider the Classical-Statistical approximation in the context of Bell-type inequalities, viz. the familiar (spatial) Bell inequalities and the temporal Leggett-Garg inequalities. We show that the Classical-Statistical approximation does not violate temporal Bell-type inequalities, even though it i…
As discussed below, Bell's inequalities and experimental results rule out commutative hidden variable models as a basis for Bell correlations, but not necessarily non-commutative probability models. A local probability model is constructed for Bell correlations based on non-commutative operations involving polarizers. As in the entanglement model, the Bell correlation is obtained from a probability calculus without explicit use of deterministic hidden variables. The probability calculus used is associated with chaotic light. Joint wave intensity correlations at spatially separated polarization…
We consider a five dimensional (5D) space-time with a space-like fifth dimension. We implement a quantum formalism by path integrals, and postulate that all the physical information on a 5D massless particle propagation is provided by the statistics over null paths in this 5D space-time. If the 5D metric is independent of the fifth coordinate, then the propagation problem can be reduced to four dimensions by foliation along the fifth coordinate, and we obtain a formulation of 4D Quantum Mechanics. If the 5D metric is independent of time, we foliate along the time coordinate, and obtain a formu…
I explain so-called quantum nonlocality experiments and discuss how to optimize them. Statistical tools from missing data maximum likelihood are crucial. New results are given on CGLMP, CH and ladder inequalities. Open problems are also discussed.
We discuss some mathematical aspects of photon antibunching and sub-Poisson photon statistics. It is known that Bell's inequalities for entangled states can be reduced to the Cauchy-Bunyakovsky inequalities. In this note some rigorous results on impossibility of classical hidden variables representations of certain quantum correlation functions are proved which are also based on the Cauchy-Bunyakovsky inequalities. The difference K between the variance and the mean as a measure of non-classicality of a state is discussed. For the classical case K is nonnegative while for the n-particle state i…
The predictions of quantum mechanics cannot be resolved with a completely classical view of the world. In particular, the statistics of space-like separated measurements on entangled quantum systems violate a Bell inequality. We put forward a computational perspective on a broad class of Bell tests that study correlators, or the statistics of joint measurement outcomes. We associate particular maps, or functions to particular theories. The violation of a Bell inequality then implies the ability to perform some functions, or computations that classical, or more generally, local hidden variable …
Derivation and experimental violation of Bell-like inequalities involve the measurement of in-compatible observables. Simple complementarity forbids the existence of such joint probabilitydistribution. Moreover, the measurement of incompatible observables requires different experimen-tal procedures, which no necessarily must share a common joint statistics. In this work, we avoidthese difficulties by proposing a joint simultaneous measurement experiment. We can obtain theexact individual statistics of all the observables involved in the Bell inequalities after a suitable datainversion. A lack …
Bell's theorem shows that no hidden-variable model can explain the measurement statistics of a quantum system shared between two parties, thus ruling out a classical (local) understanding of nature. In this work we demonstrate that by relaxing the positivity restriction in the hidden-variable probability distribution it is possible to derive quasiprobabilistic Bell inequalities whose sharp upper bound is written in terms of a negativity witness of said distribution. This provides an analytic solution for the amount of negativity necessary to violate the CHSH inequality by an arbitrary amount, …
Nonlocality, Integrability and Quantum Chaos in the Spectrum of Bell Operators
Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, Austrian Academy of Sciences（奥地利科学院量子光学与量子信息研究所）；Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology (VCQ), Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna（维也纳大学物理学院量子科学与技术中心（VCQ））；ICFO-Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology（巴塞罗那科技研究所光子科学研究所（ICFO））；Universiteit Leiden（莱顿大学）；ETH Zürich（苏黎世联邦理工学院）
Bell's theorem has been widely argued to show that some of the predictions of quantum mechanics which are obtained by applying the {\it Born's rule} to a class of {\it entangled states}, are {\it not} compatible with {\it any} local-causal statistical model, via the violation of Bell's inequalities. On the other hand, in the previous work, we have shown that quantum dynamics and kinematics are {\it emergent} from a statistical model that is singled out {\it uniquely} by the principle of Locality. Here we shall show that the local-causal model supports entangled states and give the statistical …
The majority of recent works investigating the link between non-locality and randomness, e.g. in the context of device-independent cryptography, do so with respect to some specific Bell inequality, usually the CHSH inequality. However, the joint probabilities characterizing the measurement outcomes of a Bell test are richer than just the degree of violation of a single Bell inequality. In this work we show how to take this extra information into account in a systematic manner in order to optimally evaluate the randomness that can be certified from non-local correlations. We further show that t…
We point out a loophole in the derivation of the Bell inequalities in the form proposed by Clauser, Horne, Shimony and Holt (CHSH). In this derivation it is assumed that statistical independence is a necessary consequence of locality, but this is not a logical necessity.
Federal University of Paraná（联邦巴拉那大学）；University of Geneva（日内瓦大学）；Lund University（隆德大学）；Constructor University（Constructor 大学）；Uppsala University（乌普萨拉大学）；KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University（皇家理工学院和斯德哥尔摩大学）
We derive a Bell-like inequality involving all correlations in local observables with uncertainty free states and show that the inequality is violated in quantum mechanics for EPR and GHZ states. If the uncertainties are allowed in local observables then the statistical predictions of hidden variable theory is well respected in quantum world. We argue that the uncertainties play a key role in understanding the non-locality issues in quantum world. Thus we can not rule out the possibility that a local, realistic hidden variable theory with statistical uncertainties in the observables might repr…
Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) steering is an intermediate type of quantum nonlocality which sits between entanglement and Bell nonlocality. A set of correlations is Bell nonlocal if it does not admit a local hidden variable (LHV) model, while it is EPR nonlocal if it does not admit a local hidden variable-local hidden state (LHV-LHS) model. It is interesting to know what states can generate EPR-nonlocal correlations in the simplest nontrivial scenario, that is, two projective measurements for each party sharing a two-qubit state. Here we show that a two-qubit state can generate EPR-nonlocal fu…
The essence of Bell's theorem is that, in general, quantum statistics cannot be reproduced by local hidden variable (LHV) model. This impossibility is strongly manifested while analyzing the singlet state statistics for Bell-CHSH violations. In this work, we provide various subsets of two outcome POVMs for which a local hidden variable model can be constructed for singlet state.
Assumed data streams from a delayed choice gedanken experiment must satisfy a Bell's identity independently of locality assumptions. The violation of Bell's inequality by assumed correlations of identical form among these data streams implies that they cannot all result from statistically equivalent variables of a homogeneous process. This is consistent with both the requirements of arithmetic and distinctions between commuting and noncommuting observables in quantum mechanics. Neglect of these distinctions implies a logical loophole in the conventional interpretation of Bell's inequalities.
Bell inequalities rest on three fundamental assumptions: realism, locality, and free choice, which lead to nontrivial constraints on correlations in very simple experiments. If we retain realism, then violation of the inequalities implies that at least one of the remaining two assumptions must fail, which can have profound consequences for the causal explanation of the experiment. We investigate the extent to which a given assumption needs to be relaxed for the other to hold at all costs, based on the observation that a violation need not occur on every experimental trial, even when describing…
Bell nonlocality can be formulated in terms of a resource theory with local-hidden variable models as resourceless objects. Two such theories are known, one built upon local operations assisted by shared randomness (LOSRs) and the other one allowing, in addition, for prior-to-input classical communication. We show that prior communication, although unable to create nonlocality, leads to wirings not only beyond LOSRs but also not contained in a much broader class of (nonlocality-generating) global wirings. Technically, this is shown by proving that it can improve the statistical distinguishabil…
Local realism is the worldview in which physical properties of objects exist independently of measurement and where physical influences cannot travel faster than the speed of light. Bell's theorem states that this worldview is incompatible with the predictions of quantum mechanics, as is expressed in Bell's inequalities. Previous experiments convincingly supported the quantum predictions. Yet, every experiment requires assumptions that provide loopholes for a local realist explanation. Here we report a Bell test that closes the most significant of these loopholes simultaneously. Using a well-o…
We explore the mechanism of quantum teleportation by analyzing the weak measurement statistics post-selected by the result of the Bell measurement for the joint system composed of the input A and the spatially separated output B. It is shown that the weak measurement statistics observed before the Bell measurement includes correlations which relate every physical property in the input A to a corresponding physical property in the output B. The Bell measurement thus identifies the accidental relation between A and B already present in the quantum fluctuations of the input state. Significantly, …
Self-testing is a method to certify devices from the result of a Bell test. Although examples of noise tolerant self-testing are known, it is not clear how to deal efficiently with a finite number of experimental trials to certify the average quality of a device without assuming that it behaves identically at each run. As a result, existing self-testing results with finite statistics have been limited to guarantee the proper working of a device in just one of all experimental trials, thereby limiting their practical applicability. We here derive a method to certify through self-testing that a …
Locality and realism are two main assumptions in deriving Bell's inequalities. Though the experimentally demonstrated violations of Bell's inequalities rule out local realism, it is, however, not clear what role each of the two assumptions solely plays in the observed violations. Here we show that two testable inequalities for the statistical predictions of two-qubit systems can be derived by assuming either locality or realism. It turns out that quantum mechanics respects a nonlocal classical realism, and it is locality that is incompatible with experimental observations and quantum mechanics…
Experimental violations of Bell inequalities are in general vulnerable to so-called "loopholes." In this work, we analyse the characteristics of a loophole-free Bell test with photons, closing simultaneously the locality, freedom-of-choice, fair-sampling (i.e. detection), coincidence-time, and memory loopholes. We pay special attention to the effect of excess predictability in the setting choices due to non-ideal random number generators. We discuss necessary adaptations of the CH/Eberhard inequality when using such imperfect devices and -- using Hoeffding's inequality and Doob's optional stop…
A simple classical non-local dynamical system with random initial conditions and an output projecting the state variable on selected axes has been defined to mimic a two-channel quantum coincidence experiment. Non-locality is introduced by a parameter connecting the initial conditions to the selection of the projection axes. The statistics of the results shows violations up to 100% of the Bell's inequality, in the form of Clauser-Horne- Shimony-Holt (CHSH), strongly depending on the non-locality parameter. Discussions on the parallelism with Bohmian mechanics are given.
The well-known Simpson's Paradox, or Yule-Simpson Effect, in statistics is often illustrated by the following thought experiment: A drug may be found in a trial to increase the survival rate for both men and women, but decrease the rate for all the subjects as a whole. This paradoxical reversal effect has been found in numerous datasets across many disciplines, and is now included in most introductory statistics textbooks. In the language of the drug trial, the effect is impossible, however, if both treatment groups' survival rates are higher than both control groups'. Here we show that for qu…
This short article concentrates on the conceptual aspects of the violation of Bell inequalities, and acts as a map to the 265 cited references. The article outlines (a) relevant characteristics of quantum mechanics, such as statistical balance and entanglement, (b) the thinking that led to the derivation of the original Bell inequality, and (c) the range of claimed implications, including realism, locality and others which attract less attention. The main conclusion is that violation of Bell inequalities appears to have some implications for the nature of physical reality, but that none of the…
The original formula of Bell inequality (BI) in terms of two-spin singlet has to be modified for the entangled-state with parallel spin polarization. Based on classical statistics of the particle-number correlation, we prove in this paper an extended BI, which is valid for two-spin entangled states with both parallel and antiparallel polarizations. The BI and its violation can be formulated in a unified formalism based on the spin coherent-state quantum probability statistics with the state-density operator, which is separated to the local and non-local parts. The local part gives rise to the …
It is known that the local bound of a Bell inequality is sensitive to the knowledge of the external observer about the settings statistics. Here we ask how that sensitivity depends on the structure of that knowledge. It turns out that in some cases it may happen that the local bound is much more sensitive to adversary's knowledge about settings of one party than the other. Remarkably, there are Bell inequalities which are highly asymmetric with respect to the adversary's knowledge about local settings. This property may be viewed as a hidden intrinsic asymmetry of Bell inequalities. Potential …
Statistical tests are needed to determine experimentally whether a hypothetical theory based on local realism can be an acceptable alternative to quantum mechanics. It is impossible to rule out local realism by a single test, as often claimed erroneously. The ``strength'' of a particular Bell inequality is measured by the number of trials that are needed to invalidate local realism at a given confidence level. Various versions of Bell's inequality are compared from this point of view. It is shown that Mermin's inequality for Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states requires fewer tests than the Clau…
This paper proposes a generalized Bell-like inequality (GBI) for multiparticle entangled Schrödinger-cat--states of arbitrary spin-$s$. Based on quantum probability statistics the GBI and violation are formulated in an unified manner with the help of state density operator, which can be separated to local and non-local parts. The local part gives rise to the inequality, while the non-local part is responsible for the violation. The GBI is not violated at all by quantum average except the spin-$1/2$ entangled states. If the measuring outcomes are restricted in the subspace of spin coherent stat…
We analyze and compare the mathematical formulations of the criterion for separability for bipartite density matrices and the Bell inequalities. We show that a violation of a Bell inequality can formally be expressed as a witness for entanglement. We also show how the criterion for separability and a description of the state by a local hidden variable theory, become equivalent when we restrict the set of local hidden variable theories to the domain of quantum mechanics. This analysis sheds light on the essential difference between the two criteria and may help us in understanding whether there…
Witnessing continuous-variable Bell nonlocality is a challenging endeavor, but Bell himself showed how one might demonstrate this nonlocality. Though Bell nearly showed a violation using the CHSH inequality with sign-binned position-momentum statistics of entangled pairs of particles measured at different times, his demonstration is subject to approximations not realizable in a laboratory setting. Moreover, he doesn't give a quantitative estimation of the maximum achievable violation for the wavefunction he considers. In this article, we show how his strategy can be reimagined using the transv…
By limiting the resolution of quantum measurements, the measurement induced changes of the quantum state can be reduced, permitting subsequent measurements of variables that do not commute with the initially measured property. It is then possible to experimentally determine correlations between non-commuting variables. The application of this method to the polarization statistics of entangled photon pairs reveals that negative conditional probabilities between non-orthogonal polarization components are responsible for the violation of Bell's inequalities. Such negative probabilities can also b…
Opto- and electromechanical systems offer an effective platform to test quantum theory and its predictions at macroscopic scales. To date, all experiments presuppose the validity of quantum mechanics, but could in principle be described by a hypothetical local statistical theory. Here we suggest a Bell test using the electromechanical Einstein-Podolski-Rosen entangled state recently generated by Palomaki et al., which would rule out any local and realistic explanation of the measured data without assuming the validity of quantum mechanics at macroscopic scales. It additionally provides a devic…
We report correlation measurements on two $^9$Be$^+$ ions that violate a chained Bell inequality obeyed by any local-realistic theory. The correlations can be modeled as derived from a mixture of a local-realistic probabilistic distribution and a distribution that violates the inequality. A statistical framework is formulated to quantify the local-realistic fraction allowable in the observed distribution without the fair-sampling or independent-and-identical-distributions assumptions. We exclude models of our experiment whose local-realistic fraction is above 0.327 at the 95 \% confidence leve…
Recent experiments have reached detection efficiencies sufficient to close the detection loophole with photons. Both experiments ran multiple successive trials in fixed measurement configurations, rather than randomly re-setting the measurement configurations before each measurement trial. This opens a new potential loophole for a local hidden variable theory. The loophole invalidates one proposed method of statistical analysis of the experimental results, as demonstrated in this note. Therefore a different analysis will be necessary to definitively assert that these experiments are subject on…
Bell's theorem states that some predictions of quantum mechanics cannot be reproduced by a local-realist theory. That conflict is expressed by Bell's inequality, which is usually derived under the assumption that there are no statistical correlations between the choices of measurement settings and anything else that can causally affect the measurement outcomes. In previous experiments, this "freedom of choice" was addressed by ensuring that selection of measurement settings via conventional "quantum random number generators" was space-like separated from the entangled particle creation. This, …
Closing objectivity loophole in Bell tests on a public quantum computer
University of Warsaw（华沙大学）；Departament de Física and Institut d’Aplicacions Computacionals de Codi Comunitari (IAC3)（物理系与通用代码计算应用研究所（IAC3））；CRISP – Centre de Recerca Independent de sa Pobla（萨波布拉独立研究中心（CRISP））；University of Lodz（罗兹大学）；Center for Theoretical Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences（波兰科学院理论物理中心）
A local and deterministic model of quantum correlations is always possible, as shown explicitly by Brans in 1988: one simply needs the physical systems being measured to have a suitable statistical correlation with the physical systems performing the measurement, via some common cause. Hence, to derive no-go results such as Bell inequalities, an assumption of measurement independence is crucial. It is a surprisingly strong assumption -- less than 1/15 bits of prior correlation suffice for a local model of the singlet state of two qubits -- with ramifications for the security of quantum communi…
