Pickering, Phil (2025) Locality in the Heisenberg picture. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Quantum entanglement is widely regarded as a nonlocal phenomenon, but Deutsch and Hayden (2000) have recently received growing support for their claim that in the Heisenberg picture, entanglement can be characterised locally using objects they call descriptors. I argue that the notion of locality underlying this claim is a flawed version of the principle of separability that I call spatial separability. An improved version, spatiotemporal separability, reveals that their claim is false. The proposed analysis of separability also reveals the crucial feature of quantum theory that makes it 'spooky' in any picture: quantum entanglement entails that there are non-qualitative properties, which are profoundly different from the qualitative properties we have come to expect from classical physics.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Pickering, Phil phil.pickering@outlook.com 0009-0004-8802-2665
Keywords:	locality, separability, nonseparability, quantum mechanics, Heisenberg picture
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Depositing User:	Mr Phil Pickering
Date Deposited:	24 Feb 2025 13:57
Last Modified:	24 Feb 2025 13:57
Item ID:	24800
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Date:	24 February 2025
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/24800

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  • Locality in the Heisenberg picture. (deposited 20 Feb 2026 20:16)

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