Hidden-Variable Theorems for Real Experiments
Abstract
It has recently been questioned whether the Kochen-Specker theorem is relevant to real experiments, which by necessity only have finite precision. We give an affirmative answer to this question by showing how to derive hidden-variable theorems that apply to real experiments, so that noncontextual hidden variables can indeed be experimentally disproved. The essential point is that for the derivation of hidden-variable theorems one does not have to know which observables are really measured by the apparatus. Predictions can be derived for observables that are defined in an entirely operational way.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review Letters
- Pub Date:
- May 2001
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.4427
- arXiv:
- arXiv:quant-ph/0006043
- Bibcode:
- 2001PhRvL..86.4427S
- Keywords:
-
- Quantum Physics
- E-Print:
- 4 pages