Atomic Cascade Experiments with Two-Channel Polarizers and Quantum Mechanical Nonlocality

Abstract

In 1935, Einstein, Podolsky, Rosen (EPR)1 used their famous criteria of realism and locality to conclude that the wave function does not provide a complete description of physical reality. Their argument (adapted to Bohm’s2 gedanken experiment for a pair of photons in the singlet state) is based on the following three premises: 1 — Quantum mechanical (QM) perfect correlations: If the polarizations of photons 1 and 2 are measured along the same axis, then the outcomes are perfecdy (anti) correlated. 2 — EPR’s criterion of realism: “If without in any way disturbing a system, we can predict with certainty (Le., with probability equal to unity) the value of a physical quantity, then there exists an element of physical reality corresponding to this physical quantity.” 3 — Einstein’s locality:3 “But on one supposition, we should, in my opinion absolutely hold fast: The real factual situation of the system S2 is independent of what is done with the system S1 which is spatially separated from the former.”