Physics Department Colloquium, "A Really Sensible (but false) Relativistic Local Causality Condition" by, Professor Travis Norsen, Marlboro College, Marlboro, Vermont
Science / Technology - Colloquium
| Date & Time: |
Monday, March 22, 2010 4:00 PM-5:00 PM |
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| Suggested Audiences: | College | |
| Location: Find Local Food & Accommodations |
WPI: Olin Hall 107 100 Institute Road Worcester, MA 01609-2280 |
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| Cost: | FREE | |
| Sponsored by: | WPI Physics Department, Dr. Erkan Tuzel | |
| Description: | One sometimes hears that (together with certain associated experimental results) Bell's Theorem refutes determinism, or realism, or the possibility of a "hidden variables" account of quantum phenomena. All of these statements are wrong. What Bell's Theorem and the experiments actually refute is "local causality". But what precisely is this notion of "local causality" and why should anyone care that it turns out to be empirically unviable, i.e., false? This talk will address this question by building up -- through a trial-and-error sequence of attempts to formulate something that really captures the relativistic idea of "no faster-than-light causal influences" -- a Really Sensible Relativistic Local Causality Condition. The goal, in short, is to provide -- for people who have not yet learned enough about Bell's Theorem to be worried about this -- a reason to stay awake at night worrying that maybe there is, as Bell himself claimed, an "essential conflict" between the (empirically correct) predictions of quantum mechanics and fundamental relativity. Refreshments will be served in Olin Hall 118 at 3:30 PM |
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| More Information: |
E-mail:
etuzel@wpi.edu
Phone: 508-831-5391 Entered by: WPI Physics Department (physics@wpi.edu) |
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Created: March 15, 2010 at 1:41 PM
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