DrChinese said:
Let’s be clear about
@vanhees71 assertions about QFT: there is nothing predicted by QFT regarding entanglement that wasn’t something equally predicted by QM. Things like entanglement swapping are not dependent on some nuance in QFT. So there is no sense in defining locality in terms of QFT.
True, entanglement is a generic property of QT, no matter whether it's relativistic or non-relativistic.
However, if you want to discuss whether a phenomenon obeys the assumption of locaility in the sense of relativistic causality, according to which space-like separated events cannot be in causal relation, you have to use a relativistic theory. There is no notion of locality in this sense in non-relativistic physics (neither in classical nor quantum theory). So it's no surprise that there's no constraint on causal connections between events, i.e., it's no contradiction that there are instantaneous interactions possible (to the contrary, it's the usual paradigm in non-relativistic physics as in Newtonian theory of gravitation). Of course it's very clear that Newtonian physics is only an approximation to relativistic physics and Nature behaves relativistically, i.e., the locality principle (in the above defined sense of relativistic causality) must be fulfilled, and that's why it's implemented into local relativisic QFT via the microcausality constraint, i.e., space-like separated local observable-operators must commute at space-like separated arguments.
Of course, experiments with photons must be described by QED, and all Bell tests, demonstrating the inseparability of entangled states, which is unfortunately and misleadingly called a "non-local" effect, although there's no violation of relativistic causality constraints whatsoever within QED.
DrChinese said:
In one form of locality: there is signal locality but there is no quantum nonlocality. In quantum nonlocality: signal locality is respected. But… expectation values are dependent on the measurement choices of distant observers. In another form of nonlocality: even signal locality is not respected.
Of course are the outcomes of measurements dependent on the choice what's measured. It's also demonstrated that in such measurements the causal order of local measurements on parts of the systems doesn't play any role. The measurement events (i.e., the moment where at the place of the detector a measurement results gets manifest) can even be space-like separated. Together with the microcausality constraint of relativistic QFT this implies that there cannot be any causal connection between these measurement events, and indeed the correlations described by entanglement are due to the preparation of the system in this entangled state. Thus there is no need for any causality-breaking "spooky interactions at a distance", contradicting relativistic causality and its implementation in relativistic QFT. Signal locality is strictly obeyed by construction. The great majority of physicists working in this field does not deny this, including Zeilinger et al.
DrChinese said:
No one is currently asserting this last version. The general consensus is that of quantum nonlocality, with full respect for signal locality. Again, how many quotes need to be provided here to back up a position? The existence of quantum nonlocality is posited as part of most experimental papers on the subject.
Yes, and that's why you should call relativistic QFT local, since in fact it is local. There are strong correlations of measurement results at far distant places when accordingly entangled systems are measured. This has nothing to do with any violation of locality. It's just the inseparability of entangled states, and it's all about correlations and not causal connections, which would violate relativistic causality. The existence of nonseparability is posited as part of most experimental papers on the subject. I don't know any paper, where locality and relativistic causality is denied. To the contrary, there was a lot of experimental effort in performung loop-hole free Bell tests in achieving space-like separated choices of the measured observable and measurements with the argument to exclude (!!!) any possible causal influences between the far-distant local measurements!