High School How does Bell's inequality rule out realism?

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Bell's inequality challenges the notion of realism by suggesting that the correlations observed in quantum entanglement cannot be explained by local hidden variables. Removing realism implies that particles do not possess definite properties prior to measurement, which raises questions about how these correlations arise. The discussion highlights that while removing locality allows for non-local correlations, it does not inherently generate them, similar to the removal of realism. The conversation also touches on the complexities of quantum mechanics, particularly how classical assumptions about measurement and properties can lead to incorrect predictions in a quantum context. Understanding these principles is crucial for grasping the implications of Bell's inequality on our interpretation of reality in quantum physics.
  • #31
PhysicsEntanglement1 said:
Thank you. This was the explanation I was looking for.
I do have a follow up question, however. It seems that removing objective reality to not violate bell's inequality would not produce the correlation that is consistently viewed in each and every experiment. Also, the way in which we conduct the experiment also changes the results. It is the square of the cosine of the angle between the 2 polarizer settings. This would seem to indicate that there is at least some communication.

Regarding the first part of the follow up question above, with slight modification :
"It seems that removing objective reality [to account for Bell inequality violations]
would not produce the correlation that is consistently viewed in each and every experiment".
 
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  • #32
entropy1 said:
I agree with you @Demystifier. However, if we assume Alice and Bob measuring at A and B, would in case of non-realism Alice not have existed for Bob, and Bob not for Alice? This would be asymmetrical as well as a little absurd in my eyes. :wink:
Yes, non-reality is quite absurd. Yet, it is a logical possibility. For more details see the paper I linked a few posts above.
 
  • #33
gva said:
Police or FBI Forensics are so successful because they deal with logic. It seems Bell's Theorem tried to make one bypass logic altogether. In Forensics. If there are bullets. Guns are fired. But in quantum entanglement, correlations are observed but doubts were cast whether there were non-local correlations. Well even if the particles don't exist before measurements. Their connections (whatever it is before particles were precipitated) is non-local. Isn't it the correlations can be compared in paper and there are indeed effects.. so of course there should be non-local connections even if it's not the particles communicating at each end. Why do people even doubt this?
Because some physicists desperately want to save locality. I don't know why.
 
  • #34
PhysicsEntanglement1 said:
Thank you. This was the explanation I was looking for.
I do have a follow up question, however. It seems that removing objective reality to not violate bell's inequality would not produce the correlation that is consistently viewed in each and every experiment. Also, the way in which we conduct the experiment also changes the results. It is the square of the cosine of the angle between the 2 polarizer settings. This would seem to indicate that there is at least some communication.
There is no communication in a human friendly sense. See the Appendix in the paper I linked a few posts above.
 
  • #35
Demystifier said:
Because some physicists desperately want to save locality. I don't know why.

If there were no particles before measurements.. and it is spacetime that is communicating.. is it not correct to call it non-local too? "locality" has more to do with "spacetime" than matter.. so if spacetime is communicating without particles.. it should be "non-local" too.. why is it not?
 
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  • #36
Spacetime isn't communicating. What is going wrong is the following:

Intuitively, we would think that objects carry around with them some numbers ##\lambda_1,\lambda_2,\ldots## that characterize all their properties. For example, their spin in ##z## direction may be calculated from these numbers by a function ##S_z(\lambda_1,\lambda_2,\ldots)##. You can prove that this naive idea is incompatible with quantum mechanics. However, our intuition for statistics derives from this idea. Only objects, whose spin can be calculated in such a way are forced to obey the statistics that we would find intuitive.

As I said, the previous naive idea is incompatible with QM. However, there are ways to fix it:
1. Give up the idea that objects have spin. The notion of spin changes depending on the situation. There are many observables ##S_z^{(1)}(\lambda_1,\lambda_2,\ldots), S_z^{(2)}(\lambda_1,\lambda_2,\ldots), \ldots## and you need to use a different one depending on the context. This is what hidden variable theories do.
2. Give up the idea that there is a (potentially transfinite) list of numbers ##\lambda_1, \lambda_2, \ldots## that characterizes the situation of the physics. Particles still have spin, but the naive way to describe it mathematically fails. This may produce statistics that is incompatible with our intuition, since the statistics that we would find intuitive is derived from the idea that there are numbers ##\lambda_1,\lambda_2,\ldots## that describe the situation completely.

The first way gives up locality. The second way gives up classicality. Some people call it "realism", but I don't think this is a good name. The universe is still real, but its mathematical description is less naive.

The reason for why we find quantum statistics non-intuitive is that in our daily life, we are used to statistics that can be derived from some underlying list of numbers. However, it is only a problem with our intuition and not with physics itself.
 
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  • #37
rubi said:
Spacetime isn't communicating. What is going wrong is the following:

Intuitively, we would think that objects carry around with them some sombers ##\lambda_1,\lambda_2,\ldots## that characterize all their properties. For example, their spin in ##z## direction may be calculated from these numbers by a function ##S_z(\lambda_1,\lambda_2,\ldots)##. You can prove that this naive idea is incompatible with quantum mechanics. However, our intuition for statistics derives from this idea. Only objects, whose spin can be calculated in such a way are forced to obey the statistics that we would find intuitive.

As I said, the previous naive idea is incompatible with QM. However, there are ways to fix it:
1. Give up the idea that objects have spin. The notion of spin changes depending on the situation. There are many observables ##S_z^{(1)}(\lambda_1,\lambda_2,\ldots), S_z^{(2)}(\lambda_1,\lambda_2,\ldots), \ldots## and you need to use a different one depending on the context. This is what hidden variable theories do.
2. Give up the idea that the the idea that there is a (potentially transfinite) list of numbers ##\lambda_1, \lambda_2, \ldots## that characterizes the situation of the physics. Particles still have spin, but the naive way to describe it mathematically fails. This may produce statistics that is incompatible with our intuition, since the statistics that we would find intuitive is derived from the idea that there are numbers ##\lambda_1,\lambda_2,\ldots## that describe the situation completely.

The first way gives up locality. The second way gives up classicality. Some people call it "realism", but I don't think this is a good name. The universe is still real, but its mathematical description is less naive.

The reason for why we find quantum statistics non-intuitive is that in our daily life, we are used to statistics that can be derived from some underlying list of numbers. However, it is only a problem with our intuition and not with physics itself.

Just to be clear, are you working within consistent histories?
 
  • #38
atyy said:
Just to be clear, are you working within consistent histories?
No, this is essentially independent of the interpretation. The boundary is between hidden variable theories that describe the situation completely by a list of numbers ##\lambda_1,\lambda_2,\ldots## and theories that describe the situation using different mathematics.
 
  • #39
rubi said:
Spacetime isn't communicating. What is going wrong is the following:

Intuitively, we would think that objects carry around with them some numbers ##\lambda_1,\lambda_2,\ldots## that characterize all their properties. For example, their spin in ##z## direction may be calculated from these numbers by a function ##S_z(\lambda_1,\lambda_2,\ldots)##. You can prove that this naive idea is incompatible with quantum mechanics. However, our intuition for statistics derives from this idea. Only objects, whose spin can be calculated in such a way are forced to obey the statistics that we would find intuitive.

As I said, the previous naive idea is incompatible with QM. However, there are ways to fix it:
1. Give up the idea that objects have spin. The notion of spin changes depending on the situation. There are many observables ##S_z^{(1)}(\lambda_1,\lambda_2,\ldots), S_z^{(2)}(\lambda_1,\lambda_2,\ldots), \ldots## and you need to use a different one depending on the context. This is what hidden variable theories do.
2. Give up the idea that there is a (potentially transfinite) list of numbers ##\lambda_1, \lambda_2, \ldots## that characterizes the situation of the physics. Particles still have spin, but the naive way to describe it mathematically fails. This may produce statistics that is incompatible with our intuition, since the statistics that we would find intuitive is derived from the idea that there are numbers ##\lambda_1,\lambda_2,\ldots## that describe the situation completely.

The first way gives up locality. The second way gives up classicality. Some people call it "realism", but I don't think this is a good name. The universe is still real, but its mathematical description is less naive.

The reason for why we find quantum statistics non-intuitive is that in our daily life, we are used to statistics that can be derived from some underlying list of numbers. However, it is only a problem with our intuition and not with physics itself.

We are told that spacetime and quantum is only relevant below the Planck scale, and above it we have effective field theory and QFT (or quantum mechanics) is enough. But is our failure to understand what goes on in entanglement is because we still need to understand what goes on above the Planck scale, like how exactly is matter connected to geometry? Perhaps this would give us insight into entanglement? or totally no connection and how come?
 
  • #40
gva said:
But is our failure to understand what goes on in entanglement is because we still need to understand ...
It's unlikely. But without a candidate theory we'd just be speculating idly (something not allowed under the PF rules).
 
  • #41
rubi said:
The reason for why we find quantum statistics non-intuitive is that in our daily life, we are used to statistics that can be derived from some underlying list of numbers. However, it is only a problem with our intuition and not with physics itself.

I disagree with that diagnosis. To me, what makes quantum probability seem so weird is that the probabilities are contingent on performing a particular measurement. That would make sense in terms of a local interaction. If I have a glass bottle and I'm wondering how many pieces it would split into if I smashed with a hammer, I can only find out by actually smashing it. But in an quantum entangled system, it seems that my local measurement here affects the way I describe the situation at a far distant place. In an spin-1/2 anti-correlated twin pair EPR-type experiment, Alice's description of Bob's probabilities goes from: "For any orientation, the probability of his measuring spin-up is 1/2" to "His probability of measuring spin-up is sin^2(\frac{\theta}{2}) where \theta is the angle between Bob's orientation and Alice's measured spin."

The mystery is how Alice's measurement can affect her description of Bob's probabilities, unless either (1) there is a nonlocal effect of Alice's measurement on Bob, or (2) Bob's particle's was already in the "collapsed" state, and Alice's measurement just informed her of this. Neither possibility is plausibly true, but they seem to be the only two possibilities.
 
  • #42
Demystifier said:
Yes, non-reality is quite absurd.

In this case, it's all in the eye of the beholder as to what is reasonable and what is absurd... :smile:

I think in many cases, it is more useful for "non-reality" to be replaced by "contextual reality" or "subjective reality" or "acausal reality". Those are probably less of a turn-off.
 
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  • #43
rubi said:
No, this is essentially independent of the interpretation. The boundary is between hidden variable theories that describe the situation completely by a list of numbers ##\lambda_1,\lambda_2,\ldots## and theories that describe the situation using different mathematics.

But this definition of reality doesn't seem to have much to say about whether the moon is there when one is not looking at it.
 
  • #44
gva said:
We are told that spacetime and quantum is only relevant below the Planck scale, and above it we have effective field theory and QFT (or quantum mechanics) is enough. But is our failure to understand what goes on in entanglement is because we still need to understand what goes on above the Planck scale, like how exactly is matter connected to geometry? Perhaps this would give us insight into entanglement? or totally no connection and how come?
I don't think there is a connection. Quantum gravity is rather going to make the situation even more complicated, since the causal structure of spacetime is a consequence of gravitational physics and quantum gravity is a more complicated theory than classical gravity.

stevendaryl said:
The mystery is how Alice's measurement can affect her description of Bob's probabilities, unless either (1) there is a nonlocal effect of Alice's measurement on Bob, or (2) Bob's particle's was already in the "collapsed" state, and Alice's measurement just informed her of this. Neither possibility is plausibly true, but they seem to be the only two possibilities.
I don't think these are the only possibilities. They are the only possibilities if we insist on an underlying description of the universe by a list ##\lambda_1, \ldots## of numbers, but if we give that up, I can't think of an argument that would enforce these to be the only possibilities. I believe that Bob would have gotten the same result if Alice hadn't performed her measurement. But that doesn't mean that there must be numbers ##\lambda_1,\ldots## such that Bob's measurement can be computed from them by a function ##S(\lambda_1,\ldots)##. At least I don't see how this logically follows. And if this doesn't follow logically, I don't expect the statistics to be consistent with the statistics that is implied by such an assumption.

atyy said:
But this definition of reality doesn't seem to have much to say about whether the moon is there when one is not looking at it.
Well, quantum theory just doesn't have an opinion on whether the moon is there when nobody is looking or not. That doesn't mean that the moon isn't there. The theory is just silent on this issue. I think physical theories in general can't answer such kind of questions.

My definition of reality is "that which I experience". And quantum theory adequately describes that which I experience. Hence, it adequately describes reality. I can't think of any other useful definition of "reality".
 
  • #45
Simon Phoenix said:
Well let's think of the classic example of a pair of spin-1/2 particles that are maximally entangled. So up to a normalization constant we've got a state that is the form |0>|1> + |1>|0>.

Now let's imagine the following scenario. Bob is going to prepare 2 different ensembles - so basically 2 boxes.
box 1 : contains N spin-1/2 particles each taken from a maximally correlated pair as above
box 2 : contains N spin-1/2 particles where for each particle a coin toss has determined whether it's a spin up or spin down (let's say in the z-basis)

Bob is going to randomly choose which of the 2 boxes to give to Alice. Alice is then allowed to perform ANY experiment whatsoever on the particles in this box she's been given. Her job is to figure out whether she's been given box 1 or box 2 with a probability that's better than guessing.

There's no experiment she can perform, on the particles in the box alone, that will enable her to distinguish which box she's been given any better than guessing.

So if from her particles alone she cannot tell whether she has one of a pair of entangled spins, or simply a randomly chosen up or down particle - how then can we say that in this example the results of (local)* experiments depend on the settings of remote devices in QM?

*by 'local' here I mean in Alice's lab - that is, 'local' in the same kind of sense that I would say "my local supermarket", for example.

What other situation in life that a sentence can mean many things and people understood it differently depending on one's experience. That following sentence is one such:

"Results of measurements in (standard) QM DEPEND of the settings of remote devices"

It can be answered Yes or No. No. Because Alice doesn't know the settings of remote devices.. Yes.. because there are correlations later on. Simon was using the context of the former.. but it also be answered in the affirmative.. correct Science Advisors?
 
  • #46
rubi said:
Well, quantum theory just doesn't have an opinion on whether the moon is there when nobody is looking or not. That doesn't mean that the moon isn't there. The theory is just silent on this issue. I think physical theories in general can't answer such kind of questions.

My definition of reality is "that which I experience". And quantum theory adequately describes that which I experience. Hence, it adequately describes reality. I can't think of any other useful definition of "reality".

Sure, but then I don't think you should make out that Ilja or the rest of us realists are not understanding something profound. As he and most of us say - quantum theory in the minimal interpretation is not a theory about fundamental reality. We all understand the minimal interpretation well. In fact, we may understand it better than those who claim to use it. If it is only important that quantum theory makes accurate predictions, then what is so important about a technical point that in some obscure sense one is still able to say that quantum theory is able to "explain" the correlations and preserve "locality"?

It's pretty much the same as vanhees71's confusion over collapse. If he is truly using the minimal interpretation, then why should he care about collapse, since it isn't necessarily real?

Realists do not deny the minimal interpretation - we in fact support it. But we also say that the measurement problem points to new physics (or new conceptions of reality, eg. MWI)
 
  • #47
atyy said:
Sure, but then I don't think you should make out that Ilja or the rest of us realists are not understanding something profound.
I don't remember saying this. However, it is certainly true for Ilja.

As he and most of us say - quantum theory in the minimal interpretation is not a theory about fundamental reality.
I disagree. It's a theory about fundamental reality as much as classical physics is. Classical physics also doesn't tell us whether the moon is there when nobody is looking at it. Such questions are just completely inaccessible to physics or even pure reason. It's like asking about the existence of god.

There is a difference between reality and the mathematical description of reality. Physical theories can only ever describe reality. The belief in the existence of reality is independent of physics. I am a theorist and I am only interested in the mathematical desciption. I'm interested in whether the mathematical reasoning that leads to certain conclusions about the theory is watertight. All I'm telling you is that the claims of some people (such as Ilja) that quantum theory must be non-local are false. That's just a hard mathematical fact. Nobody can prove that quantum theory is non-local. One can only get this idea by being sloppy about the mathematical arguments and this is unacceptable in science.

If it is only important that quantum theory makes accurate predictions, then what is so important about a technical point that in some obscure sense one is still able to say that quantum theory is able to "explain" the correlations and preserve "locality"?
I don't find the explanation obscure at all. If you find it obscure, it means that you cannot let go the idea that reality can be described by a list ##\lambda_1,\lambda_2,\ldots## of numbers and the consequences that follow from it. Someone who doesn't adhere to this idea should have no problem with explanations of correlations and locality. And if there is no problem, then there is also no necessity to give them up.

It's pretty much the same as vanhees71's confusion over collapse. If he is truly using the minimal interpretation, then why should he care about collapse, since it isn't necessarily real?
It's an interesting mathematical question whether the collapse postulate can be deduced from the other postulates (at least in some limit) by including more details about the evolution of the environment. This already justifies investigations. If the collapse is emergent from the other axioms, then the mathematical structure of quantum theory simplifies, which is beneficial to other parts of physics.

Realists do not deny the minimal interpretation - we in fact support it. But we also say that the measurement problem points to new physics (or new conceptions of reality, eg. MWI)
I also say that it points to new conceptions of reality. If we are interested in a local theory, we have to give up the idea that reality can be described by a set of numbers ##\lambda_1,\ldots##. We are not sure how to understand this, since evolution has only equipped us with intuition for situations that can be described by such a list, but that doesn't mean we cannot understand it. I don't think the goal should be to recover a description that uses such a list ##\lambda_1,\ldots##, since it seems like an unjustified ad-hoc assumption.
 
  • #48
If in an experiment locality is given.* And realism is rejected in accounting for Bell violations,
then how is it that this non realism is so consistent and derivable
As in this simple inequality where both entangled particles are detected at A & B
00 and 450
450 and 900.
00 and 900
Then the inequality for both particles detected based on 1/2 (sin θ/2)2
n(0+45+) + n(45+90+) ≥ n (0+90+)
Results in .1464 ≥ .25.
And in this example where A and B = ± 1.
(AB) + (AB') + (A'B) - (A'B') ≤ 2, in experiment approaches 2√2
* Locality
t0 photons from source sent to detectors at A and B
t1 photons reach detectors and measurement process starts, photons are sent from A to B and B to A
t2 measurements completed.
t3 photons reach detectors A and B
 
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  • #49
gva said:
So there is always communications whether there is realism or not..

If one uses "there is" that means one makes a claim about existence, thus, one has to presuppose some form of realism. Without realism, "there is" is meaningless. There would be no difference between "there is a stone" and "there is a ghost", because what makes the second invalid - the non-existence of ghosts - is a claim about reality.
 
  • #50
Ilja said:
If one uses "there is" that means one makes a claim about existence, thus, one has to presuppose some form of realism. Without realism, "there is" is meaningless. There would be no difference between "there is a stone" and "there is a ghost", because what makes the second invalid - the non-existence of ghosts - is a claim about reality.

Again, it is more useful for "non-realism" to be replaced by "contextual reality" or "subjective reality" or "acausal reality". In these scenarios, there is not an element of reality independent of the observer's choice of measurement basis.

As to whether there is communication between Alice and Bob in the realistic scenarios: who is "communicating" with whom? (This goes back to gva's statement that "there is always communications whether there is realism or not".)
 
  • #51
DrChinese said:
Again, it is more useful for "non-realism" to be replaced by "contextual reality" or "subjective reality" or "acausal reality".
I have to disagree. "Contextual reality" would be simply classical realism: dBB theory is as realistic as imaginable, but is a contextual theory.

"Acausal reality" is ok by underscoring that one has to give up causality (or distort it in such a way that Reichenbach's common cause is rejected). But it suggests too strongly that something remains from realism. But what remains, if one rejects the EPR principle of reality?

Only "subjective reality" seems quite accurate - if one interprets it in such a way that my remarks remain valid. There may be, of course, ghosts in some subjective reality.
 
  • #52
Ilja said:
"Contextual reality" would be simply classical realism: ...

Only "subjective reality" seems quite accurate - if one interprets it in such a way that my remarks remain valid. There may be, of course, ghosts in some subjective reality.

Classical physics is not contextual.

And there are no "ghosts" in subjective realism - that is not physics. Not sure why you keep ascribing a metaphysical component to accepted interpretations. If you don't like an interpretation, fine, but don't dog it with inaccurate assertions.
 
  • #53
Classical physics may be not contextual, but dBB theory is, and it is nonetheless completely realistic, even deterministic.

"Subjective realism" is, of course, nothing precisely defined. But I think it is clear that it assumes that there may be different realities for different subjects, and, therefore, no unique objective reality, which would allow to name one "subjective reality" true and another one "false".

I do not ascribe metaphysical components to accepted interpretations. Its new for me that "subjective realism" would be an accepted interpretation. The minimal interpretation explicitly rejects any metaphysics, the Copenhagen interpretation contains some classical common sense, combined with some elements of positivism which I reject, but this is not something I consider to be important. What matters IMHO much more are the common sense elements it preserves.
MWI is not something worth to be discussed, but if I nonetheless discuss it, I do not ascribe metaphysical components to it, but invectives. Inconsistent histories I do not discuss too. What else do you have in mind?

I do ascribe metaphysical components only to an explicit rejection of realism and causality. Given that realism as well as causality are quite well-known metaphysical concepts, and that we are not talking about some general, uncertain philosophical realism resp. abstract philosophical causality, but about very specific versions of realism and causality which have to be rejected - the EPR criterion of reality, as well as Reichenbach's principle of common cause - I'm completely justified to attribute to those who reject these principles some definite metaphysical elements.

All I do is that I try to explain what it would mean if one would reject these principles seriously and consistently. Of course, nobody does it. Everybody will apply EPR realism and causality with Reichenbach's common cause as usual everywhere, except in Bell theorem discussions. So, my polemics are directed against some purely hypothetic people who are really consistent in their philosophy.
 
  • #54
Ilja said:
"Subjective realism" is, of course, nothing precisely defined. But I think it is clear that it assumes that there may be different realities for different subjects, and, therefore, no unique objective reality, which would allow to name one "subjective reality" true and another one "false".

I do not ascribe metaphysical components to accepted interpretations. Its new for me that "subjective realism" would be an accepted interpretation. ... Everybody will apply EPR realism and causality with Reichenbach's common cause as usual everywhere, except in Bell theorem discussions. So, my polemics are directed against some purely hypothetic people who are really consistent in their philosophy.

Sorry, there are plenty of ways to describe subjective realism. If you accept that position and momentum are not simultaneously well defined - a standard viewpoint - you accept subjective reality in QM. There is nothing metaphysical about it.

As to "common cause": it should be obvious that there may be a lack of strict causality in the universe we inhibit. Were that the case, it would make no sense to attempt a local deterministic interpretation of QM.

Of course, we don't know the answer to this question. In the meantime, dBB is a good interpretation too. And I don't consider it objectively real either because it is fully contextual. Even though it is deterministic.
 
  • #55
DrChinese said:
Sorry, there are plenty of ways to describe subjective realism. If you accept that position and momentum are not simultaneously well defined - a standard viewpoint - you accept subjective reality in QM.
No. Now it is you who is ascribing a metaphysical component to accepted interpretations.

DrChinese said:
There is nothing metaphysical about it.
I claim, in agreement with dBB theory, that only the position is a well-defined property of the particle. Instead, momentum is not. It is the result of an interaction with something else, traditionally but misleadingly named "measurement device".

In this interpretation, position and momentum are not simultaneously defined properties of the particle. But, sorry, there is nothing "subjectively realistic" in this interpretation.

DrChinese said:
In the meantime, dBB is a good interpretation too. And I don't consider it objectively real either because it is fully contextual. Even though it is deterministic.
Sorry, I don't understand this. All what really exists is explicitly specified (the wave function and the configuration) and described by explicit evolution equations, which depend on nothing else but what actually exists.

Contextuality is a normal property of realism. There is nothing unrealistic with contextuality. It is the question if something is the result of an interaction, which depends on the state of all interacting parts, or if it is a "measurement", so that the result depends only on the state of one part.

DrChinese said:
As to "common cause": it should be obvious that there may be a lack of strict causality in the universe we inhibit. Were that the case, it would make no sense to attempt a local deterministic interpretation of QM.
Hm. Similarly, it should be obvious that there may be a God as described in various Holy Scriptures. Were that the case, it would make no sense doing science. Why should I care about this possibility? Why should I care about your possibility?
 
  • #56
DrChinese said:
Classical physics is not contextual.

From a check in Wikipedia and the first hundred or so hits from a Google search, I failed to find a definitive explanation of what "contextuality" means. The definition in Wikipedia is:

Quantum Contextuality means that in any theory that attempts to explain quantum mechanics deterministically, the measurement result of a quantum observable depends on the specific experimental setup being used to measure that observable, in particular the commuting observables being measured with it.

In the case of classical mechanics, the fundamental state is completely determined by variables such as positions, momenta, types of particles and values of the electromagnetic field. So those variables are non-contextual. But there can be other variables that don't exist independently of how you attempt to measure them, such as a chemical's color under a fluoroscope, or the shapes that an object shatters into when you smash it. I'm not 100% sure if those are examples of contextual properties, but they seem to fit the intuitive definition that I've seen.

So is there a clear definition of "contextuality" under which it is clear that classical mechanics is not contextual?
 
  • #57
And relativity?
 
  • #58
Ilja said:
... Why should I care about this possibility? Why should I care about your possibility?

The issue is not what you personally care about. The issue is your statements. Specifically, you deny the viability of non-realistic interpretations of QM. There is no scientific support for that position beyond "I don't like it". That's not good enough here. You have stated your personal opinion, and there is no point in repeating it as if it is generally accepted. It is not.
 
  • #59
stevendaryl said:
So is there a clear definition of "contextuality" under which it is clear that classical mechanics is not contextual?

Not that I am aware of. I consider that the EPR paper represents the "classical" viewpoint. Consequently, I equate contextuality with their definition of a subjective reality (which they reject out of hand as unreasonable). But there have been many hairs split over the words. Little to be gained there, IMHO.
 
  • #60
DrChinese said:
The issue is your statements. Specifically, you deny the viability of non-realistic interpretations of QM. There is no scientific support for that position beyond "I don't like it".
I have to repeat it once you heavily distort it. I do not at all deny the viability of the minimal or the Copenhagen interpretation, even if they remain silent about the issue realism and can be characterized as positivistic. And the issue has never been viability. Belief in ghosts can be viable too.
 

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