For Whom Does Bell Hold?

Abstract

Violations of Bell's inequalities offer a definitive signal of non-classical (quantum) behavior in local deterministic systems. Yet, in many physical settings where quantum mechanics is expected to play an important role, one cannot construct a Bell-type test using the available observables. Cosmology offers one concrete example, where cosmic structure may have originated from quantum vacuum fluctuations yet all observations are effectively classical. Nevertheless, recent work suggests that quantum and classical time evolution may still be differentiated by the pattern of statistical correlations of these observables. In this paper, we explore and generalize the use of correlations as Bell-type test of the nature of time evolution. We show that quantum vacuum fluctuations of closed systems undergoing Hamiltonian evolution produce unique correlations that are not mimicked by classical Hamiltonian systems. Correlations in the quantum vacuum are generally time-independent and are controlled by the energy gap between the ground and exited states. Classical systems exhibit apparent poles at physical frequencies that do not arise in the quantum vacuum. As one approaches the poles, the evolution becomes dominated by a resonant Hamiltonian giving rise to time dependent correlations that eventually decay through dephasing. Finally, we show that this behavior is distinct from other signals of quantum evolution, including applications to quantum optics, quantum walks, and quantum search.