A Close Look at the EPR Data of Weihs et al

TL;DR

This paper analyzes EPR experimental data from Weihs et al., revealing that wider detection windows improve coincidence detection but also introduce a loophole, affecting Bell inequality violations and no-signaling conditions.

Contribution

It demonstrates that wider detection windows can optimize coincidence detection while highlighting the coincidence time loophole's impact on Bell tests.

Findings

Wider detection windows (40-50 ns) yield better coincidence results.

Coincidence distributions vary significantly with window size.

Bell inequality violations remain strong despite window width differences.

Abstract

I examine data from EPR experiments conducted in 1997 through 1999 by Gregor Weihs and colleagues. They used detection windows of 4-6 ns to identify coincidences; I find that one obtains better results with windows 40-50 ns wide. Coincidences identified using different windows have substantially different distributions over the sixteen combinations of Alice's and Bob's measurement settings and results, which is the essence of the coincidence time loophole. However, wide and narrow window coincidences violate a Bell inequality equally strongly. The wider window yields substantially smaller violations of no-signaling conditions.