Local Realistic Theory for PDC Experiments Based on the Wigner Formalism

Abstract

In this article we present a local hidden variables model for all experiments involving photon pairs produced in parametric down conversion, based on the Wigner representation of the radiation field. A modification of the standard quantum theory of detection is made in order to give a local realist explanation of the counting rates in photodetectors. This model involves the existence of a real zeropoint field, such that the vacumm level of radiation lies below the threshold of the detectors.