Further Investigations of the Aspect/Bell Error: Maximum Entropy Assessment

This article identifies the maximum entropy distribution among those in the polytope of probability distributions cohering with quantum theoretic prescriptions pertinent to Bell’s inequality in the optical context. Perhaps surprisingly, the maxent distribution is not a uniform mixture of the extreme vertices of the convex hull of distributions agreeing with the theory. The expectation E(s) it supports equals 1.1296, within the permitted coherent interval of (1.1213,2]. The maxent mixture of the extreme agreeable vertices is compared herein with two other mixture distributions over the convex hull of those supported by quantum theory. One of these is a simple uniform mixture over the solution vectors to the appropriate linear programming problems that specify the polytope. The other is the mixture underlying simulated results of Aspect’s experiments that have been shown to estimate E(s) as 1.7678. Further computations provide examples of the types of claims that would be entailed in a unique distribution within the cohering convex hull such as maxent. These defy quantum theoretic adherence to the general uncertainty principle which proclaims an agnostic position with respect to imagined joint observation operators that do not commute. They also display questionable implications of the “many worlds” proposal which the author does not favour. The article raises questions that deserve to be discussed concerning the general proposal that the maximum entropy principle should be employed to make precise probabilistic assertions about equilibrium phenomena when specific physical theory prescribes only an interval.

Quantum Violation of Bell’s Inequality: A Misunderstanding Based on a Mathematical Error of Neglect

This paper intends to show how the fabled violation of Bell’s inequality by the probabilistic specifications of quantum mechanics derives from a mathematical error, an error of neglect. I have no objection to the probabilities specified by quantum theory, nor to the inequality itself as characterized in the formulation of Clauser, Horne, Shimony, and Holt. Designed to assess consequences of Einstein’s principle of local realism, the inequality pertains to a linear combination of four polarization products on the same pair of photons arising in a gedankenexperiment. My assessment displays that in this context, the summands of the relevant CHSH quantity s(λ) inhere four symmetric functional relations which have long been neglected in analytic considerations. Its expectation E[s(λ)] is not the sum of four “marginal” expectations from a joint distribution, as quantum theory explicitly avoids such a specification. Rather, I show that E[s(λ)] has four distinct representations as the sum of three expectations of polarization products plus the expectation of a fourth which is restricted to equal a function value determined by the other three. Analysis using Bruno de Finetti’s fundamental theorem of prevision (FTP) yields only a bound for E(s) within (1.1213,2] , surely not at all as is commonly understood. I exhibit slices of the 4-dimensional polytope of joint P++ probabilities actually motivated by quantum theory at the four stipulated angle settings, as it passes through 3-dimensional space. Bell’s inequality is satisfied everywhere within the convex hull of extreme distributions cohering with quantum theoretic specifications, even while in keeping with local realism. Aspect’s proposed “estimation” of E(s) near to is based on polarization products from different photon pairs that do not have embedded within them the functional relations inhering in the relevant gedankenexperiment. When one actively embeds the restrictions into Aspect’s estimation procedure, it yields an estimate of 1.7667, although this is not and cannot be definitive. While my analysis supports the subjectivist construction of probability as clarifying issues relevant to the interpretation of quantum theory, the error resolved herein is purely mathematical. It pertains to the reconsideration of Bell violation irrespective of one’s attitude toward the meaning of probability.

Quantum Mysteries for No One

I provide a critical reassessment of David Mermin’s influential and misleading parable, “Quantum Mysteries for Anyone”, identifying its errors and resolving them with a complete analysis of the quantum experiment it is meant to portray. Accessible to popular readership and requiring no knowledge of quantum physics at all, his exposition describes the curious behaviour of a machine that is designed to parody the empirical results of quantum experiments monitoring the spins of a pair of electrons under various conditions. The mysteries are said to unfold from contradictory results produced by a signal process that is proposed to explain them. I find that these results derive from a mathematical error of neglect, coupled with a confusion of two distinct types of experiments under consideration. One of these, a gedankenexperiment, provides the context in which the fabled defiance of Bell’s inequality is thought to emerge. The errors are corrected by the recognition of functional relations embedded within the experimental conditions that have been long unnoticed. A Monte Carlo simulation of results in accord with the actual abstemious claims of quantum theory supports probability values that Mermin decries as unwarranted. However, the distribution it suggests is not definitive, in accord with the expressed agnostic position of quantum theory regarding measurements that cannot be executed. Bounding quantum probabilities are computed for the results of the gedankenexperiment relevant to Bell’s inequality which inspired the parable. The problem is embedded in a 3 × 3 design of Stern-Gerlach magnet orientations at two observation stations. Computational resolution on the basis of Bruno de Finetti’s fundamental theorem of probability requires the evaluation of a battery of three paired linear programming problems. Though technicalities are ornate, the message is clear. There are no mysteries of quantum mechanics that derive from mistaken understandings of Bell’s inequality… for anyone.