A coherence interpretation of nonlocal realism in the delayed-choice quantum eraser

TL;DR

This paper offers a coherence-based interpretation of nonlocal realism in the delayed-choice quantum eraser experiment, explaining nonlocal fringes through deterministic coherence solutions linked to coincidence detection and phase relations.

Contribution

It introduces a coherence interpretation for nonlocal realism in delayed-choice quantum erasers, providing a deterministic explanation for nonlocal fringes beyond conventional quantum mechanics.

Findings

Coherence solutions explain nonlocal fringes deterministically.

A fixed sum-phase relation between entangled photons is essential.

Conventional particle-based quantum mechanics cannot fully explain the results.

Abstract

The delayed-choice thought experiment proposed by Wheeler has been demonstrated over the last several decades for the wave-particle duality of a single photon. The delayed-choice quantum eraser proposed by Scully and Druhl has also been intensively studied for the violation of the cause-effect relation of a single photon as well as a pair of entangled photons in an interferometric system. Here, a coherence interpretation is conducted for the nonlocal realism of the space-like separated photons observed in Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 1 (2000). As a result, coherence solutions of the observed nonlocal fringes are deterministically derived from coincidence detection-caused selective measurements, where the resulting product-basis superposition becomes the origin of the otherwise quantum mystery of the nonlocal fringes. For this, a fixed sum-phase relation between entangled photons is a prerequisite, which cannot be explained by conventional particle nature-based quantum mechanics.