Re: Visualizing the quantum world...

Date: Thu, 9 Nov 1995 13:30:40 -0800
From: Vic Stenger <vjs@uhheph.phys.hawaii.edu>
Reply to: quantum-d@teleport.com
To: quantum-d@teleport.com
Subject: QUANTUM-D: Re: Visualizing the quantum world...

Rhett wrote:

> In a thread on this list Vic Stenger suggested that proofs of quantum 
> nonlocality were exaggerated... 

> "The familiar picture of particles following definite paths through
>  spacetime can be retained to visualize the behavior of fundamental
>  particles, as long as we allow their spacetime worldlines to wander
>  around at will within both forward and backward lightcones."
> 
>    I will hazard a comment. While i find these images interesting
> and meaningful, i see no reason to regard them as an exorcism or
> minimization of "nonlocality." It seems to me that to the extent
> that Vic's picture is true then macroscopic spacetime and the arrow
> of time are emergent aspects. Out of the bidirectional level that
> Vic points to emerge among other things many dynamically trans- or
> non-local effects as are characteristic of coherent quantum systems.
> I guess the satisfaction comes from having managed without drawing
> any superluminal worldlines - nevertheless, one has not untangled
> different parts of spacetime. "Nonlocal" seems not such a bad word,
> all things considered...

Basicall I distinguish between nonlocality and superluminality, showing 
that "effective" nonlocality, namely the simultanous appearance of a 
particle at spacelike separations, has been part of physics for fifty years.
The nonlocality that people insist is present in QM implies something 
more profound.

Vic Stenger