Local Causality, Probability and Explanation

TL;DR

This paper examines the nuanced relationship between local causality, probability, and explanation in quantum mechanics, highlighting tensions between Bell's formulations and probabilistic assumptions in quantum correlations.

Contribution

It clarifies how Bell's local causality relates to probability and explores the implications for understanding quantum correlations and locality.

Findings

Bell's formulations involve implicit probabilistic assumptions.

Quantum mechanics challenges classical notions of local causality.

The account suggests a form of locality compatible with quantum correlations.

Abstract

In papers published in the 25 years following his famous 1964 proof John Bell refined and reformulated his views on locality and causality. Although his formulations of local causality were in terms of probability, he had little to say about that notion. But assumptions about probability are implicit in his arguments and conclusions. Probability does not conform to these assumptions when quantum mechanics is applied to account for the particular correlations Bell argues are locally inexplicable. This account involves no superluminal action and there is even a sense in which it is local, but it is in tension with the requirement that the direct causes and effects of events are nearby.