Abstract
Local realism is the worldview in which physical properties of objects exist independently of measurement and where physical influences cannot travel faster than the speed of light. Bell’s theorem states that this worldview is incompatible with the predictions of quantum mechanics, as is expressed in Bell’s inequalities. Previous experiments convincingly supported the quantum predictions. Yet, every experiment requires assumptions that provide loopholes for a local realist explanation. Here, we report a Bell test that closes the most significant of these loopholes simultaneously. Using a well-optimized source of entangled photons, rapid setting generation, and highly efficient superconducting detectors, we observe a violation of a Bell inequality with high statistical significance. The purely statistical probability of our results to occur under local realism does not exceed , corresponding to an 11.5 standard deviation effect.
- Received 10 November 2015
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.250401
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Published by the American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Viewpoint
Closing the Door on Einstein and Bohr’s Quantum Debate
Published 16 December 2015
By closing two loopholes at once, three experimental tests of Bell’s inequalities remove the last doubts that we should renounce local realism. They also open the door to new quantum information technologies.
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