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In physics, a hidden-variable theory is a Determinism model which seeks to explain the probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics by introducing additional, possibly inaccessible, variables.
The mathematical formulation of quantum mechanics assumes that the state of a system prior to measurement is indeterminate; quantitative bounds on this indeterminacy are expressed by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Most hidden-variable theories are attempts to avoid this indeterminacy, but possibly at the expense of requiring that nonlocal interactions be allowed. One notable hidden-variable theory is the de Broglie–Bohm theory.
In their 1935 EPR paper, Albert Einstein, Boris Podolsky, and Nathan Rosen argued that quantum entanglement might imply that quantum mechanics is an incomplete description of reality. John Stewart Bell in 1964, in his eponymous theorem proved that correlations between particles under any local hidden variable theory must obey certain constraints. Subsequently, Bell test experiments have demonstrated broad violation of these constraints, ruling out such theories. Bell's theorem, however, does not rule out the possibility of nonlocal theories or superdeterminism; these therefore cannot be falsified by Bell tests.
This classical mechanics description would eliminate unsettling characteristics of quantum theory like the uncertainty principle. More fundamentally however, a successful model of quantum phenomena with hidden variables implies quantum entities with intrinsic values independent of measurements. Existing quantum mechanics asserts that state properties can only be known after a measurement. As N. David Mermin puts it: In other words, whereas a hidden-variable theory would imply intrinsic particle properties, in quantum mechanics an electron has no definite position and velocity to even be revealed.
At the Fifth Solvay Congress, held in Belgium in October 1927 and attended by all the major theoretical physicists of the era, Louis de Broglie presented his own version of a deterministic hidden-variable theory, apparently unaware of Einstein's aborted attempt earlier in the year. In his theory, every particle had an associated, hidden "pilot wave" which served to guide its trajectory through space. The theory was subject to criticism at the Congress, particularly by Wolfgang Pauli, which de Broglie did not adequately answer; de Broglie abandoned the theory shortly thereafter.
The validity and definitiveness of von Neumann's proof were also questioned by Hans Reichenbach, and possibly in conversation though not in print by Albert Einstein. Reportedly, in a conversation circa 1938 with his assistants Peter Bergmann and Valentine Bargmann, Einstein pulled von Neumann's book off his shelf, pointed to the same assumption critiqued by Hermann and Bell, and asked why one should believe in it. Simon Kochen and Ernst Specker rejected von Neumann's key assumption as early as 1961, but did not publish a criticism of it until 1967. (2025). 9783540427568, Springer. ISBN 9783540427568
Together with Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen, Einstein published a paper that gave a related but distinct argument against the completeness of quantum mechanics. They proposed a thought experiment involving a pair of particles prepared in what would later become known as an entangled quantum state. Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen pointed out that, in this state, if the position of the first particle were measured, the result of measuring the position of the second particle could be predicted. If instead the momentum of the first particle were measured, then the result of measuring the momentum of the second particle could be predicted. They argued that no action taken on the first particle could instantaneously affect the other, since this would involve information being transmitted faster than light, which is impossible according to the theory of relativity. They invoked a principle, later known as the "EPR criterion of reality", positing that: "If, without in any way disturbing a system, we can predict with certainty (i.e., with probability equal to unity) the value of a physical quantity, then there exists an element of reality corresponding to that quantity." From this, they inferred that the second particle must have a definite value of both position and of momentum prior to either quantity being measured. But quantum mechanics considers these two observables incompatible and thus does not associate simultaneous values for both to any system. Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen therefore concluded that quantum theory does not provide a complete description of reality.
Bohr answered the Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen challenge as follows:
Bohr is here choosing to define a "physical reality" as limited to a phenomenon that is immediately observable by an arbitrarily chosen and explicitly specified technique, using his own special definition of the term 'phenomenon'. He wrote in 1948:
This was, of course, in conflict with the EPR criterion of reality.
Physicists such as Alain Aspect and Paul Kwiat have performed experiments that have found violations of these inequalities up to 242 standard deviations. This rules out local hidden-variable theories, but does not rule out non-local ones. Theoretically, there could be experimental problems that affect the validity of the experimental findings.
Gerard 't Hooft has disputed the validity of Bell's theorem on the basis of the superdeterminism loophole and proposed some ideas to construct local deterministic models.
Bohm posited both the quantum particle, e.g. an electron, and a hidden 'guiding wave' that governs its motion. Thus, in this theory electrons are quite clearly particles. When a double-slit experiment is performed, the electron goes through either one of the slits. Also, the slit passed through is not random but is governed by the (hidden) pilot wave, resulting in the wave pattern that is observed.
In Bohm's interpretation, the (non-local) quantum potential constitutes an implicate (hidden) order which organizes a particle, and which may itself be the result of yet a further implicate order: a superimplicate order which organizes a field.David Pratt: "David Bohm and the Implicate Order". Appeared in Sunrise magazine, February/March 1993, Theosophical University Press Nowadays Bohm's theory is considered to be one of many interpretations of quantum mechanics. Some consider it the simplicity theory to explain quantum phenomena.Michael K.-H. Kiessling: "Misleading Signposts Along the de Broglie–Bohm Road to Quantum Mechanics", Foundations of Physics, volume 40, number 4, 2010, pp. 418–429 ( abstract) Nevertheless, it is a hidden-variable theory, and necessarily so."While the testable predictions of Bohmian mechanics are isomorphic to standard Copenhagen quantum mechanics, its underlying hidden variables have to be, in principle, unobservable. If one could observe them, one would be able to take advantage of that and signal faster than light, which – according to the special theory of relativity – leads to physical temporal paradoxes." J. Kofler and A. Zeilinger, "Quantum Information and Randomness", European Review (2010), Vol. 18, No. 4, 469–480. The major reference for Bohm's theory today is his book with Basil Hiley, published posthumously.D. Bohm and B. J. Hiley, The Undivided Universe, Routledge, 1993, .
A possible weakness of Bohm's theory is that some (including Einstein, Pauli, and Heisenberg) feel that it looks contrived. (Indeed, Bohm thought this of his original formulation of the theory.) Bohm said he considered his theory to be unacceptable as a physical theory due to the guiding wave's existence in an abstract multi-dimensional configuration space, rather than three-dimensional space.
In January 2013, Giancarlo Ghirardi and Raffaele Romano described a model which, "under a different free choice assumption ... violates the for almost all states of a bipartite two-level system, in a possibly experimentally testable way".
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