Another Triumph of Locality: Colliding Histories Skew Handshakes

TL;DR

The paper argues that a local explanation for Bell's theorem is possible within quantum mechanics when formulated in the Heisenberg picture, challenging the common interpretation of non-locality.

Contribution

It presents a local interpretation of Bell's theorem using the Heisenberg picture, countering the widespread view of inherent quantum non-locality.

Findings

A local explanation emerges in the Heisenberg picture of quantum mechanics.

Common classical explanations for quantum phenomena share a fundamental defect.

Formulating Bell scenarios in the Heisenberg picture provides a strictly local account.

Abstract

From gravity to electromagnetism, apparent action at a distance has always been resolved by deeper, local explanations. Yet today, Bell's theorem is widely interpreted as the death knell for local reality. In this chapter, I present the theorem in accessible terms, examine the three main strategies that attempt to preserve hidden variables, and argue that they share a common defect: the attempt to explain the quantum from the classical rather than the other way around. In unitary quantum mechanics, classicality itself is given a quantum account, and, when the Bell scenario is formulated in the Heisenberg picture, a strictly local explanation emerges. This chapter serves as a non-technical front-end to 'Explaining Bell Locally' (Proc. R. Soc. A).