Myrvold, Wayne C. (2015) Lessons of Bell's Theorem: Nonlocality, yes; Action at a distance, not necessarily. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Fifty years after the publication of Bell's theorem, there remains some controversy regarding what the theorem is telling us about quantum mechanics, and what the experimental violations of Bell inequalities are telling us about the world. This chapter represents my best attempt to be clear about what I think the lessons are. In brief: there is some sort of nonlocality inherent in any quantum theory, and, moreover, in any theory that reproduces, even approximately, the quantum probabilities for the outcomes of experiments. But not all forms of nonlocality are the same; there is a distinction to be made between action at a distance and other forms of nonlocality, and I will argue that the nonlocality required to violate the Bell inequalities need not involve action at a distance. Furthermore, the distinction between forms of nonlocality makes a difference when it comes to compatibility with relativistic causal structure.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Myrvold, Wayne C. wmyrvold@uwo.ca
Additional Information:	Forthcoming in Shan Gao and Mary Bell, eds., Quantum Nonlocality and Reality - 50 Years of Bell's Theorem (Cambridge University Press). This version corrects some errors in the previously uploaded version.
Keywords:	Bell's theorem; locality; causation; quantum mechanics; dynamical collapse theories
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory
Depositing User:	Wayne Myrvold
Date Deposited:	20 Aug 2016 16:37
Last Modified:	20 Aug 2016 16:37
Item ID:	12382
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory
Date:	January 2015
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/12382

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• Lessons of Bell's Theorem: Nonlocality, yes; Action at a distance, not necessarily. (deposited 05 Sep 2015 13:22)
  • Lessons of Bell's Theorem: Nonlocality, yes; Action at a distance, not necessarily. (deposited 20 Aug 2016 16:37) [Currently Displayed]

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