Critique of the Rowe 2001 Detector Efficiency Experiment

TL;DR

This paper critically analyzes the Rowe 2001 photon scattering experiment, demonstrating that the interpretation of the data and the conclusion that the detection loophole is closed are unsupported due to flawed assumptions about the measurement process.

Contribution

It provides a detailed critique of the data analysis and interpretation in the Rowe 2001 experiment, highlighting the invalidity of claims that the detection loophole is closed.

Findings

The PMT records a convolution of joint ion probabilities, not individual distributions.

Multiple joint densities can produce identical histograms, leading to ambiguous correlation estimates.

The reported correlations are unsupported, leaving the detection loophole open.

Abstract

The Rowe 2001 experiment scattered photons from two prepared 9Be+ ions. Measurement of the scattered photons used a single photomultiplier tube (PMT). The resultant histograms appear to be a superposition of the individual ions' distribution, but that is not correct. The PMT records the convolution of the joint probability density of the ions. There are many different joint densities which yield the same PMT histograms. Each density has a different correlation. For a fixed PMT histogram the range of those correlations can be large, e.g. -0.730 to +0.997. The reported correlations based on discriminator levels and the categories 'zero bright', 'one bright', and 'two bright' are unsupported. As such the claim that the detection efficiency loophole is closed is invalid. For this experiment, the detection loophole remains open.