EPR paradox: General remarks
For general information on the related problems, check
http://www.mtnmath.com/.
So far, there has been no decisive experiment in this field.
Hence the discussion may only be held on the conceptual level now,
without asserting or denying anything.
I suspect that an experiment to check the EPR issues cannot be
staged at all. The problem is not physical, but rather philosophic
and methodological. As usual, paradoxes arise when different levels
of hierarchy are treated on the same footing, mixed in a single
discourse. As soon as there is a clear distinction between the
levels of consideration, no contradictions can appear.
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Any theory has its own limits of applicability, and no
theory can be considered as strictly rigorous. So, there
may be no "theorems" about the validity of a physical model,
since this validity is never absolute, and one can tell in
advance that there will be situations where this model
won't be applicable. All one can do is to derive the
applicability conditions (usually in terms of strong
inequality) for a theory within a more general theory.
There is no such a generalization of quantum mechanics yet,
and hence there may be no inequalities specifying the conditions
of its applicability.
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The main problem of quantum physics is incompatibility
with relativism. This incompatibility is inherent in the very
idea of quantum mechanics, since it is the extension of the
classical physics in the direction opposite to that of relativity.
In the relativistic approach, the observer is very small,
and all he can observe is his immediate environment - locality.
On the contrary, the observer of quantum physics is infinitely
big - so that he observes any system from far apart (from
infinity), and the parts of the system cannot be discerned.
Thus, one can detect particles moving away from the system,
but nothing can be said about the association of these
particles with particular components of the system (atoms,
molecules etc.). One does not know where a particular electron
came from: an atom in the experimental device, sun flare
or distant galaxy.
Evidently, it is difficult for the observer to be small and big
in the same time, and all the relativistic quantum theories
have to involve a kind of compromise. They are inconsistent
a priori - but this does not matter, since no science can be
consistent enough (including mathematics), and one can always
switch to another theory when the old one does not work well.
This introduces an element of art into science: the scientist
has to find the balance between the various models to achieve
make the result meaningful. When such a balance is achieved
in a clear and economical way, we speak of scientific beauty.
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Of course, there can be no action at a distance from the
relativistic viewpoint. If two electrons are far enough
from each other, they can be distinguished, and the interactions
of one of them can have no influence on the other. But this
picture is applicable for macroscopic distances only! - and
if you act on an electron in a macroscopic way, there will be
no quantum effects and no need for immediate communication.
For example, electrons behave like macroscopic particles in
Millicain-like experiments, in Geiger counters, in electron
beams... Also, there are cases when microscopic particles
interact among themselves, and only the products of this
interaction are observed. Here, the electrons are completely
indistinguishable - in the sense that you cannot speak about
the action on one particular electron, but rather about the
probability of acting on one electron or another. Again,
no contradictions arise.
The discussions of EPR-like experiments often mix physically
different levels - and naturally come to paradoxes. In fact,
this is just a problem of model applicability.
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Quantum mechanics is attractive since it seems to advocate
the idea of holistic universe. However, this is not really so,
since the quantum approach opposes the macro- and microlevels
(which is impossible for classical physics). Holism is
broken in quantum physics, and it has to be restored with
the aid of metaphysical speculations.
Relativism is another way to break the universality of
classical physics. There is still no physical theory
that would unite thus abstracted parts (levels) of the universe.
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