The Local Account of Bell Nonlocality (2406.12184v1)

Abstract: In the century-long history of quantum theory, Bell's theorem stands out among the most thought-provoking results of its foundations. It reveals a conflict between quantum theory's predictions and those allowed by a general framework aligning with locality and realism. Experimental vindications of the quantum predictions were of Nobel-Prize merit and contributed to an established conclusion that nature is non-local. In stark contrast with this orthodoxy, I show that within the Heisenberg picture of unitary quantum theory, Bell inequalities are violated with local elements of reality interacting locally. Here is how: Upon measuring her particle of the entangled pair, Alice smoothly and locally evolves into two non-interacting versions of herself, each of which witnesses and records a different outcome -- she \emph{foliates}. Everything that suitably interacts with the Alices foliates in turn, creating worlds which, for all practical purposes, are independent and autonomous. At spacelike separation, an analogous process occurs to Bob when he measures his particle, locally differentiating him and his surroundings into two non-interacting instances. To confirm the violation of Bell inequalities, Alice and Bob must further interact to produce a record of the joint outcomes. The record arises from the two local worlds of Alice, and those of Bob, and foliates into four instances that respectively indicate $00$',$01$', $10$' and$11$'. If at least one input of the CHSH test is $0$', the total measure of records displaying the same outcome is $\cos^2(\pi/8)$; if not, this measure pertains to the records of different outcomes. This article formalizes and explains this local account of Bellnonlocality'.