Relativistic Symmetry and Entangled Correlations

Abstract

It is argued that the standard quantum mechanical description of the Bell correlations between entangled subsystems is in conflict with relativistic space-time symmetry. Proposals to abandon relativistic symmetry, in the sense of explicitly returning to an absolute time and preferred frame, are rejected on the grounds that the preferred frame is not empirically detectable, so the asymmetry is an unsatisfactory feature in physical theory. A "symmetric view" is proposed in which measurement events on space-like separated entangled subsystems are connected by a symmetric two-way mutual influence. Because of this reciprocity, there is complete symmetry of the description: Einsteinian relativity of simultaneity and space-time symmetry are completely preserved. The nature of the two-way influence is considered, as well as the possibility of an empirical test.