Bell-Boole Inequality: Nonlocality or Probabilistic Incompatibility of Random Variables?

Andrei Khrennikov

Entropy · 2008 · 85 citations · 47 references

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TL;DR

These investigations began over a century ago with J. Boole, who invented Boolean algebras. The report aims to inform the quantum information community about probabilistic compatibility of random‑variable families and to analyze the differing perspectives of mathematicians and quantum physicists. The authors investigate probabilistic compatibility by exploring whether a family of random variables can be realized on a single Kolmogorov probability space.

Abstract

The main aim of this report is to inform the quantum information community about investigations on the problem of probabilistic compatibility of a family of random variables: a possibility to realize such a family on the basis of a single probability measure (to construct a single Kolmogorov probability space). These investigations were started hundred of years ago by J. Boole (who invented Boolean algebras). The complete solution of the problem was obtained by Soviet mathematician Vorobjev in 60th. Surprisingly probabilists and statisticians obtained inequalities for probabilities and correlations among which one can find the famous Bell’s inequality and its generalizations. Such inequalities appeared simply as constraints for probabilistic compatibility. In this framework one can not see a priori any link to such problems as nonlocality and “death of reality” which are typically linked to Bell’s type inequalities in physical literature. We analyze the difference between positions of mathematicians and quantum physicists. In particular, we found that one of the most reasonable explanations of probabilistic incompatibility is mixing in Bell’s type inequalities statistical data from a number of experiments performed under different experimental contexts.

References

47