The Relativistic EPR Argument

Abstract

At first glance, the realist interpretations of quantum mechanics such as Bohm’s offer many advantages over standard interpretations of the theory. In particular, they give a clear, intuitive picture of many potentially paradoxical physical situations, such as the two-slit experiment and the phenomenon of barrier penetration. At the same time, their chief drawback — a form of nonlocality that seems to conflict with the constraints of relativity theory — is apparently shared by the standard, “antirealist” interpretations that reject hidden variables and assume completeness, as was demonstrated by the original Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen argument. However, while the Bell argument that establishes nonlocality for realistic interpretations such as Bohm’s has been formulated in a relativistic context (Landau, 1987; Summers and Werner, 1985), there is no well-established relativistic formulation of the EPR argument. hi the absence of such a formulation, it seems hasty to conclude that the tension between the standard interpretations and relativity theory is just as great as that between Bohmian interpretations and relativity. Clearly, if a relativistic formulation of EPR could be given that did not entail nonlocality, antirealist interpretations would have an advantage over the Bohmian interpretation.