Boughn Stephen
Departments of Astronomy and Physics, Haverford College, Haverford, PA 19041, USA.
Entropy (Basel). 2022 Apr 16;24(4):560. doi: 10.3390/e24040560.
Einstein became bothered by quantum mechanical action at a distance within two years of Schrödinger's introduction of his eponymous wave equation. If the wave function represents the "real" physical state of a particle, then the measurement of the particle's position would result in the instantaneous collapse of the wave function to the single, measured position. Such a process seemingly violates not only the Schrödinger equation but also special relativity. Einstein was not alone in this vexation; however, the dilemma eventually faded as physicists concentrated on using the Schrödinger equation to solve a plethora of pressing problems. For the next 30 years, wave function collapse, while occasionally discussed by physicists, was primarily a topic of interest for philosophers. That is, until 1964, when Bell introduced his famous inequality and maintained that its violation proved that quantum mechanics and, by implication, nature herself are nonlocal. Unfortunately, this brought the topic back to mainstream physics, where it has remained and continues to muddy the waters. To be sure, not all physicists are bothered by the apparent nonlocality of quantum mechanics. So where have those who embrace quantum nonlocality gone wrong? I argue that the answer is a gratuitous belief in the ontic nature of the quantum state.
在薛定谔提出其著名的波动方程后的两年内，爱因斯坦就对量子力学中的超距作用感到困扰。如果波函数代表粒子的“真实”物理状态，那么对粒子位置的测量将导致波函数瞬间坍缩到单一的测量位置。这样一个过程似乎不仅违反了薛定谔方程，也违反了狭义相对论。并非只有爱因斯坦为此感到烦恼；然而，随着物理学家专注于用薛定谔方程解决大量紧迫问题，这个困境最终逐渐消退。在接下来的30年里，波函数坍缩虽然偶尔被物理学家讨论，但主要是哲学家感兴趣的话题。也就是说，直到1964年，贝尔提出了他著名的不等式，并坚称对该不等式的违反证明了量子力学，进而暗示自然本身是非局域的。不幸的是，这使得这个话题又回到了主流物理学中，并且一直存在，继续搅浑这潭水。诚然，并非所有物理学家都为量子力学明显的非局域性所困扰。那么，那些接受量子非局域性的人错在哪里呢？我认为答案是对量子态的本体性质的无端信念。
