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The Secret of Hidden Variables: How Deeply Did Einstein Question Quantum Mechanics?
The world of quantum mechanics is full of strange and profound phenomena, and one of the most fascinating questions concerns the existence or absence of hidden variables. The core idea of hidden variable theory is that if there are some local variables that have not yet been discovered, the behavior of particles can be predicted more accurately, rather than relying solely on the randomness of quantum mechanics. The most well-known challenger to this view is Albert Einstein, a scientific giant who once questioned the integrity of quantum mechanics and believed that a more fundamental explanation was needed to understand the behavior of the microscopic world.
"God does not play dice." This sentence vividly depicts Einstein's doubts about randomness and fueled the fierce debate between quantum mechanics and sharp change theory.
This ideological debate began in 1935, when Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen published a famous paper called the EPR paper. The article proposes a contradiction, that is, the phenomenon of quantum entanglement seems to indicate that particles can instantaneously affect each other's state, which is contrary to the "locality" principle advocated by Einstein. According to this principle, no information can be transmitted faster than the speed of light, and the behavior of quantum entanglement seems to violate this rule.
However, with Bell's theorem proposed by John Bell in 1964, the basis of this theory was further expanded. Bell's theorem states that no local hidden variable theory can reproduce all the predictions of quantum mechanics. This means that if the experimental results show a violation of Bell's inequality, the existence of local hidden variables will not be supported, thus implying the uniqueness of quantum mechanics.
“The bizarre behavior of rejecting all possible local hidden variables seems to echo the unintuitive nature of the quantum world.”
In order to verify Bell's theorem, scientists began to conduct various Bell experiments with the purpose of finding traces of local hidden variables, and these experiments ultimately supported the predictions of quantum mechanics. From the first Bell experiment conducted by Friedman and Crowther in 1972 to the "hole-free" Bell test in recent years, scientists have continued to explore the boundaries related to complex quantum behavior.
At this stage, all Bell tests conducted have proven the strangeness and unpredictability of the quantum world, and are driving further research on quantum mechanics. This makes quantum information theory a high-profile emerging field and paves the way for the development of quantum encryption technology.
"The birth of quantum encryption technology allows us to see the end of hidden variable theory."
In this series of experiments, scientists gradually closed many loopholes and further strengthened the foundation of quantum mechanics. Some experiments not only observed the phenomenon of quantum entanglement, but also broke through locality and detection loopholes, and finally reached a consensus: the theory of local hidden variables no longer applies. Three "bug-free" Bell tests in 2015 further confirmed this view, allowing researchers to confirm the accuracy of quantum mechanics with higher statistical significance.
In the future, as more Bell experiments are implemented in different physical systems, will the scientific community find a theory that can satisfy quantum predictions without violating local hidden variables? Perhaps the mystery of the quantum world is not over yet, and its truth awaits deeper exploration and understanding?
