Single particle nonlocality: A proposed experimental test

Abstract

We show that controlled interference of a particle's wavefunction can be used to perform a quantum mechanical measurement in an incomplete basis. This happens because the measurement projects the particle into a lower dimensional subspace of the Hilbert space of the incoming wave. It allows a sender (Alice) to signal the receiver (Bob) nonlocally, by Alice's choosing to measure in a complete or incomplete basis (in general: bases of differing incompleteness). If experimentally confirmed, it furnishes a new quantum communication act: nonlocal transmission of a bit without concomitant causal communication. However, the question of its compatibility with special relativity remains unresolved.