Null-Result Detection and Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) Correlations

Abstract

It follows from Bell's theorem and quantum mechanics that the detection of a particle of an entangled pair can (somehow) "force" the other distant particle of the pair into a well-defined state (which is equivalente to a reduction of the state vector): no property previously shared by the particles can explain the predicted correlations. This result has been corroborated by experiment. However, it has not been experimantally proved-and it is far from obvious-that the absence of detection, as in null-result (NR) experiments could have the very same effect. In this paper a way to try to bridge this gap is suggested. As already shown for the case of EPR correlations, if NR detections cannot induce a reduction of the state vector, then faster-than-light (FTL) communication becomes possible, at least in pr\'inciple. But it will be demonstrated that-as entertained by Bohm-this does not necessarily lead to a causal paradox, or to the rejection of the Lorentz transformations.