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The Concept of Complementarity and its Role in Quantum Entanglement and Generalized Entanglement

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Abstract

The term complementarity plays a central role in quantum physics, not least in various approaches to defining entanglement and the conditions for its occurrence. It has, however, been used in a variety of ways by different authors, denoting different concepts and relationships. Here we describe and clarify some of them and analyze the role they play with respect to the phenomenon of entanglement. Based on these considerations we discuss the recently proposed system-theoretical generalization of the concepts entanglement and complementarity (Atmanspacher et al. in Found Phys 32(3):379–406, 2002; von Lucadou et al. in J Conscious Stud 14(4):50–74, 2007; Filk and Römer in Axiomathes 21(2):211–220, 2011; Walach and Von Stillfried in Axiomathes 21(2): 185–209, 2011). We hope that a clarification regarding the specific meaning of these terms can be useful to the growing engagement with this interesting hypothesis and its critical investigation.

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Notes

  1. Depending on ones interpretation of quantum theory (in particular Bell’s inequalities) this can be attributed to either of the following reasons: In an indeterminist interpretation it is due to the non-existence of any local-realist properties of the subsystem which could determine the outcome of the measurement. Alternatively, in a (hyper-) determinist interpretation, it is due to the co-dependence of the measurement process on potentially all other processes in the universe. In other words, depending on ones preferred interpretation, the state of the subsystem before measurement is unknowable or inexistent (see e.g. von Stillfried 2010, chapter 2.4).

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Thomas Filk and Hartmann Römer for enlightening conversations and helpful comments on this paper. NvS gratefully acknowledges funding from the Fetzer Franklin Fund. TH wants to thank the Heiligenfeld Kliniken Bad Kissingen, Germany and the Samueli Institute for Information Biology (SIIB, VA, USA) for their support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Forschungsbereich Angewandte Bewusstseinswissenschaften, Abteilung für Psychosomatische Medizin, Universitätsklinikum Regensburg, Franz-Josef-Strauß-Allee 11, 93053, Regensburg, Germany

    Thilo Hinterberger

  2. Europa-Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany

    Nikolaus von Stillfried

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  1. Thilo Hinterberger
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  2. Nikolaus von Stillfried
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Correspondence to Thilo Hinterberger or Nikolaus von Stillfried.

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Hinterberger, T., von Stillfried, N. The Concept of Complementarity and its Role in Quantum Entanglement and Generalized Entanglement. Axiomathes 23, 443–459 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10516-012-9187-y

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