Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 4427 - 4430 (2001)

Hidden-Variable Theorems for Real Experiments

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Christoph Simon1,2, Časlav Brukner1, and Anton Zeilinger1
1Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Wien, Boltzmanngasse 5, A-1090 Wien, Austria
2Centre for Quantum Computation, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom

Received 8 June 2000; revised 29 January 2001

It has recently been questioned whether the Kochen-Specker theorem is relevant to real experiments, which by necessity only have finite precision. We give an affirmative answer to this question by showing how to derive hidden-variable theorems that apply to real experiments, so that noncontextual hidden variables can indeed be experimentally disproved. The essential point is that for the derivation of hidden-variable theorems one does not have to know which observables are really measured by the apparatus. Predictions can be derived for observables that are defined in an entirely operational way.


©2001 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v86/p4427
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.4427
PACS: 03.65.Ta

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