Where Bell went wrong

TL;DR

This paper explains how contextuality can lead to violations of Bell inequalities without implying non-locality or abandoning realism, challenging common interpretations of quantum experiments.

Contribution

It provides a physical explanation for Bell inequality violations through contextuality, emphasizing the role of mutually exclusive hidden variable values.

Findings

Bell violations do not necessarily imply non-locality.

Contextuality explains Bell violations without abandoning realism.

The argument is supported by connections to Stochastic Electrodynamics.

Abstract

It is explained on a physical basis how contextuality allows Bell inequalities to be violated, without bringing an implication on locality or realism. The point is that the initial values of the hidden variables of the detectors are mutually exclusive for different detector settings. Therefore they have no reason to possess a common probability distribution and hence no reason to satisfy Bell inequalities. To motivate this, we connect first to the local realistic theory Stochastic Electrodynamics, and then put the argument more broadly. Thus even if Bell Inequality Violation is demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt, it will have no say on local realism.