Cluster property and Bell's inequalities

TL;DR

This paper examines how the cluster property and space-dependent correlations in quantum field theory influence Bell's inequalities, showing conditions under which non-local effects remain observable despite factorization.

Contribution

It clarifies when space dependence of correlations prevents local hidden variable models from reproducing quantum violations of Bell's inequalities.

Findings

Exponential decay of correlations in massive models affects Bell tests.

Conditions identified where non-local effects are still detectable.

Analysis links cluster property with the reproducibility of quantum non-locality.

Abstract

Among the many loopholes that might be invoked to reconcile local realism with the experimental violations of Bell's inequalities, the space-dependence of the correlation functions appears particularly relevant for its connections with the so-called cluster property, one of the basic ingredient of axiomatic quantum field theory. The property states that the expectation values of products of observables supported within space-like separated space-time regions factorize. Actually, in some massive models the factorization is exponentially fast with respect to the distance between the systems possibly involved in actual experiments. It is then often argued that considering the space dependence of the quantities involved in the Bell's like inequalities would eventually not violate them and thus support the reproducibility of the quantum behaviour by a suitable local hidden variable model. In this note, we show when this is actually the case and how non-local effects can still be visible.