Nonlocal single particle correlations and EPR state in the double-slit experiment

Abstract

Quantum correlations of observables for two particle states have demonstrated the nonlocal character of the quantum mechanics. However nonlocality can be exhibited even for noncommuting observables of a single particle system. In this paper we show nonlocality of position-momentum correlations of a single particle in the double-slit experiment modeled by an initially correlated Gaussian wavepacket. The positivity or negativity of the Wigner function for the state of the particle at the detection screen is related with the $\sigma_{xp}$ covariances. A Bell's inequality is constructed from the Wigner function and it is violated for both the positive and negative cases. The case of positive Wigner function is the analogous of the original EPR state for a single particle.