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Quantum mysteries for anybody: Solved

ORAL

Abstract

In 1981, Mermin published a now famous paper titled, "Bringing home the atomic world: Quantum mysteries for anybody." Therein, he presented the 'Mermin device' that illustrates the conundrum of entanglement per the spin singlet state for the "general reader." He then challenged the "physicist reader" to explain the way the device works "in terms meaningful to a general reader struggling with the dilemma raised by the device." I will show how conservation per no preferred reference frame (NPRF) answers that challenge, but still leaves a mystery for those who seek dynamical explanation via hidden variables or 'causal influences'. Since NPRF also underwrites the postulates of special relativity, we see a common theme between relativistic and non-relativistic modern physics.

Presenters

  • William Stuckey

    Physics, Elizabethtown College

Authors

  • William Stuckey

    Physics, Elizabethtown College