Philosophy enters the optics laboratory: Bell's theorem and its first experimental tests (1965–1982)

This paper deals with the ways that the issue of completing quantum mechanics was brought into laboratories and became a topic in mainstream quantum optics. It focuses on the period between 1965, when Bell published what we now call Bell's theorem, and 1982, when Aspect published the results of...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Freire Junior, Olival
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2006
País:Brasil
Institución:Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA)
Repositorio:Repositório Institucional da UFBA
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.ufba.br:ri/6343
Acceso en línea:http://www.repositorio.ufba.br/ri/handle/ri/6343
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:History of physics
Quantum physics
Bell's theorem
Entanglement
Hidden-variables
Scientific controversies
Descripción
Sumario:This paper deals with the ways that the issue of completing quantum mechanics was brought into laboratories and became a topic in mainstream quantum optics. It focuses on the period between 1965, when Bell published what we now call Bell's theorem, and 1982, when Aspect published the results of his experiments. Discussing some of those past contexts and practices, I show that factors in addition to theoretical innovations, experiments, and techniques were necessary for the flourishing of this subject, and that the experimental implications of Bell's theorem were neither suddenly recognized nor quickly highly regarded by physicists. Indeed, I will argue that what was considered good physics after Aspect's 1982 experiments was once considered by many a philosophical matter instead of a scientific one, and that the path from philosophy to physics required a change in the physics community's attitude about the status of the foundations of quantum mechanics.