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Quantum mechanics

Hidden context

Nature volume 460, pages 464–465 (2009)Cite this article

The idea that physical phenomena might be described by a more downto-earth theory than quantum physics has met with resistance from many physicists. Indeed, it seems that nature is not as simple as we would like.

Quantum mechanics is weird, there is no doubt about that. Efforts to demystify this theory and reconcile it with the laws of classical physics have led to the development of theories of hidden local variables — the hypothetical parameters of a quantum system that govern the seemingly random outcomes of quantum measurements. As it turns out, these theories require quantum mechanics to be non-contextual: the results of measurements on a quantum system should not depend on the act and specific properties (the context) of the measurement process itself; they should be set prior to it. But on page 494 of this issue, Kirchmair and colleagues1 report the results of an experiment on a system of trapped ions and demonstrate that quantum mechanics conflicts with non-contextuality regardless of the quantum state of the system. This is a significant advance, coming on the heels of recent tests of quantum contextuality performed with photons2 and neutrons3 in very special quantum states.

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Figure 1: Quantum dice.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Boris Blinov is in the Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA. blinov@uw.edu,

    Boris Blinov

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  1. Boris Blinov
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Blinov, B. Hidden context. Nature 460, 464–465 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/460464a

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/460464a

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