Quantum-collapse Bell inequalities

Abstract

We propose Bell inequalities for discrete or continuous quantum systems which test the compatibility of quantum physics with an interpretation in terms of deterministic hidden-variable theories. The wave function collapse that occurs in a sequence of quantum measurements enters the upper bound via the concept of quantum conditional probabilities. The resulting hidden-variable inequality is applicable to an arbitrary observable that is decomposable into a weighted sum of noncommuting projectors. We present local and nonlocal examples of violation of generalized Bell inequalities in phase space, which sense the negativity of the Wigner function.