Abstract
Certain properties of the Bell-type correlations and, in particular, the impossibility of using them to transmit signals faster than light, are investigated from the point of view of the conceptual structure of quantum mechanics and of Whitehead's process philosophy. The collapses of quantum states are shown to correspond to perspectives of different frames of reference on a Whiteheadian process of self-creation of actual entities. The analysis suggests a fundamental limitation on the capacity to describe the propagation of influences among the results of measurements at space-like separation. It is further shown that, if Whitehead's framework is modified in a specific way, it accounts very well for the apparent existence of superluminal influences, and for the impossibility of using them for superluminal communication.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
A. Einstein, B. Podolsky and N. Rosen,Phys. Rev. 47, 777 (1935).
D. Bohm,Quantum Theory (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1951), Chap. 22.
J. S. Bell,Rev. Mod. Phys. 38, 447 (1966).
D. Bohm,Wholeness and the Implicate Order (Routeledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1980). Chap. 4 and references cited therein.
A. Aspectet al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 47, 460 (1981).
B. d'Espagnat,In Search of Reality (Springer, New York, 1983).
W. A. Miller and J. A. Wheeler, inProceedings of the International Symposium Foundations of Quantum Mechanics in the Light of New Technology, S. Kamefuchiet al. eds. (Physical Society of Japan, Kyoto, 1984), p. 140.
J. M. Burgers,Rev. Mod. Phys. 35, 145 (1963).
J. M. Burgers,Experience and Conceptual Reality (M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1965).
A. N. Whitehead,Process and Reality, corrected edition, D. R. Griffin and W. Sherbourne, eds. (The Free Press, New York, 1978).
A. Shimony, inBoston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. II, S. Cohen and M. W. Wartofsky, eds. (Humanities Press, New York, 1968).
D. R. Griffin,Physics and the Ultimate Significance of Time (State University of New York Press, Albany, 1986).
H. P. Stapp,Found. Phys. 9, 1 (1979).
H. P. Stapp,Found. Phys. 12, 363 (1982).
H. P. Stapp, “Are Faster-than-Light Influences Necessary?”Quantum Mechanics versus Local Realism—The Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen Paradox, F. Selleri, ed., (Plenum, New York, 1988).
H. J. Folse, Jr.,Process Studies 11, 259 (1981).
S. Malin,Phys. Rev. D 26, 1330 (1982).
S. Malin,Phys. Rev. D 29, 1856 (1984).
S. Malin,Found. Phys. 14, 1083 (1984).
S. Malin,Found. Phys. 16, 1297 (1986).
A. Shimony, inProceedings of International Symposium on the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics in the Light of New Technology, S. Kamefuchiet al., (eds.) (Physical Society of Japan, Kyoto, 1984).
J. Jarrett, “Bell's Theorem, Quantum Mechanics, and Local Realism,” Ph.D. Thesis, University of Chicago, 1983, unpublished.
J. Jarrett, inNew Techniques and Ideas in Quantum Measurement Theory, Ann. N.Y: Acad. Sc. 480 (1986), D. M. Greenberger, ed., p. 428.
J. Jarrett,Nous 18, 569 (1984).
P. H. Eberhard,Nuoro Cimento 46B, 392 (1978).
I. Bloch,Phys. Rev. 156, 1377 (1967).
Y. Aharonov and D. Z. Albert,Phys. Rev. D 21, 3316 (1980).
Y. Aharonov and D. Z. Albert,Phys. Rev. D 24, 359 (1981).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This work was supported in part by a grant from the Colgate Research Council.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Malin, S. A Whiteheadian approach to Bell's correlations. Found Phys 18, 1035–1044 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01909938
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01909938