Berlin 2012 – scientific programme

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AGPhil: Arbeitsgruppe Philosophie der Physik

AGPhil 5: Foundations of Quantum Theory

AGPhil 5.2: Talk

Wednesday, March 28, 2012, 12:00–12:30, H 2033

Philosophical Lessons from Recent Tests of Non-Locality — •Matthias Egg — University of Lausanne, Switzerland

Experimental tests of Bell-type inequalities, performed since the early 1980's, turned non-classical correlations between spacelike separated events from a theoretical speculation into an experimental fact. At the same time, the precise nature of these correlations is still not well understood. While it seems unavoidable to accept the existence of superluminal influences (as argued, for example, by Tim Maudlin in "Quantum Non-Locality & Relativity", 1994), it is far from clear how and between which relata these influences occur. The philosophical search for a finer-grained understanding of quantum non-locality has tended to focus on the question what the different versions of quantum mechanics (Bohm, GRW etc.) tell us about this issue. In my talk I will explore a different strategy, by asking what lessons can be drawn from recent experimental tests of non-locality, for example investigations of Bell-type situations involving more than two parties.