Real or Not Real that is the question
arXiv:2005.08719 · doi:10.1140/epjh/e2020-10022-x
Abstract
My discussions with John Bell about reality in quantum mechanics are recollected. I would like to introduce the reader to Bell's vision of reality which was for him a natural position for a scientist. Bell had a strong aversion against "quantum jumps" and insisted to be clear in phrasing quantum mechanics, his "words to be forbidden" proclaimed with seriousness and wit -- both typical Bell characteristics -- became legendary. I will summarize the Bell-type experiments and what Nature responded, and discuss the implications for the physical quantities considered, the real entities and the nonlocality concept due to Bell's work. Subsequently, I also explain a quite different view of the meaning of a quantum state, this is the information theoretic approach, focussing on the work of Brukner and Zeilinger. Finally, I would like to broaden and contrast the reality discussion with the concept of "virtuality", with the meaning of virtual particle occurring in quantum field theory. With some of my own thoughts I will conclude the paper which is composed more as a historical article than as a philosophical one.
25 pages, 25 figures, 2 references added with text accordingly in Section VI
References in corpus (9)
- Free-Space distribution of entanglement and single photons over 144 km
- Bell inequality violation with two remote atomic qubits
- State-independent experimental test of quantum contextuality
- Characterizing quantum theory in terms of information-theoretic constraints
- A derivation of quantum theory from physical requirements
- Experimental test of quantum contextuality in neutron interferometry
- QBism and the Greeks: why a quantum state does not represent an element of physical reality
- Kochen-Specker theorem studied with neutron interferometer
- John Bell and the Nature of the Quantum World