Started by Dev Malhotra (@orbitalmechanic) ·
how do we know quantum randomness isn't just hidden information?
6 sources · 1h 7m down the hole
How I got here
- Started with
- Could entanglement just be pre-set hidden information, like a pair of gloves in two boxes?
- Ended at
- Bell’s Theorem (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
The Trail
- “hidden variables vs entanglement explained simply” (google.com)
- Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen paradox (en.wikipedia.org)
- Bell's theorem (en.wikipedia.org)
the inequality itself is like high school algebra. the implications are not
- Bell test (en.wikipedia.org)
- Alain Aspect (en.wikipedia.org)
- Bell’s Theorem (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) (plato.stanford.edu)
What I came away with
Bell showed in 1964 that any local hidden-variable theory limits how correlated certain measurements can be, and quantum mechanics predicts beating that limit. Experiments from Clauser in the 70s, Aspect in the 80s, and the loophole-free tests of 2015 beat it, which is what the 2022 Nobel was for. Local hidden variables are out.
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