Quantum mechanical probabilities and general probabilistic constraints for Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-Bohm experiments

Abstract

Relativistic causality, namely, the impossibility of signaling at superluminal speeds, restricts the kinds of correlations which can occur between different parts of a composite physical system. Here we establish the basic restrictions which relativistic causality imposes on the joint probabilities involved in an experiment of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-Bohm type. Quantum mechanics, on the other hand, places further restrictions beyond those required by general considerations like causality and consistency. We illustrate this fact by considering the sum of correlations involved in the CHSH inequality. Within the general framework of the CHSH inequality, we also consider the nonlocality theorem derived by Hardy, and discuss the constraints that relativistic causality, on the one hand, and quantum mechanics, on the other hand, impose on it. Finally, we derive a simple inequality which can be used to test quantum mechanics against general probabilistic theories.