What is Hidden variables: Definition and 62 Discussions

In physics, hidden-variable theories are proposals to provide explanations of quantum mechanical phenomena through the introduction of unobservable hypothetical entities. The existence of fundamental indeterminacy for some measurements is assumed as part of the mathematical formulation of quantum mechanics; moreover, bounds for indeterminacy can be expressed in a quantitative form by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Most hidden-variable theories are attempts at a deterministic description of quantum mechanics, to avoid quantum indeterminacy, but at the expense of requiring the existence of nonlocal interactions.
Albert Einstein objected to the fundamentally probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics, and famously declared "I am convinced God does not play dice". Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen argued that quantum mechanics is an incomplete description of reality. Bell's theorem would later suggest that local hidden variables (a way for finding a complete description of reality) of certain types are impossible.
A famous non-local theory is the De Broglie–Bohm theory.

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  1. S

    Exploring Hidden Variables in Quantum Gravity: A Philosophical Perspective

    To move beyond the standard model, especially in terms of quantum gravity, I assume we need to make a decision on the existence of hidden variables in QM. It seems that a decision has been made against hidden variables, but I'm still confused as to why. It appears that the reasons are around...
  2. N

    Exploring Hidden Variables in Photon Wave Function Collapse

    I've read a lot of philosophical "blah, blah, blah" (pardon the euphemism) by QM physicists trying to noodle through why the exact location of a collapsed photon wave function is probabilistic in nature rather than determinative. One of theories I find most intuitively appealing says the...
  3. C

    Does local MWT require hidden variables?

    A while ago I was having an interesting thread here about the possibility of local MWT, MWT as a local explanation of the entanglement experiments. In re-reading this discussion I was wondering whether the proposal of MWT as a local theory means: a) Hidden variables are necessary but MWT...
  4. N

    Isn’t Bell’s probability density for hidden variables too restrictive?

    J.S. Bell (Physics Vol.1, No. 3, 1964) excludes from consideration any distribution \rho of the hidden variable \lambda that formally depends on the vectors a and b , except if \rho ( \lambda ,a,b) = \rho ' ( \lambda ,a) \rho ' ( \lambda ,b) i.e. if the distribution can be factored in a...
  5. Demystifier

    Quantum nonlocality without hidden variables: An algorithmic approach

    Is quantum mechanics (QM) local or nonlocal? Different formulations/interpretations (FI) of QM, with or without hidden variables, suggest different answers. Different FI's can be viewed as different algorithms, which leads me to propose an algorithmic definition of locality according to which a...
  6. S

    Is Dark Matter a Macroscopic Manifestation of Quantum Hidden Variables?

    Related to QM hidden Variables?...is Dark Matter the Macro Scale equivilent to the Hidden Variables on QM scales?
  7. K

    QM hidden variables, the existence of the past, etc

    and throughout all this I get the "feeling" that most of you just expect that the "laws" of physics, (whatever they ARE) will remain unchanged thoughout the future! This of course cannot be assumed! Time, space, matter, of ALL types could very well come to an END in the NEXT SECOND! Can...
  8. D

    QM Uncertainty: Uncovering Hidden Variables

    Up to today no underlying hidden variables that determine what is called the quantum uncertainty have been demonstrated. Consider : We have a setting that includes a geiger counter and a computer. This computer has a button, which, when we press it, starts a clock. This computer is...
  9. T

    GHZ Experiment: Detections vs. Hidden Variables

    Have anyone done the GHZ experiment? As I understand it from a book I read QM predicts detections that hidden variables theories can't produce at all! If theese detections has been done then all hidden variables should be out of question even if the Bell experiments haven't been flawless!?
  10. S

    A Kalusza-Klein Hidden Variables Theory

    ..From X. Chen, with dimensions 5 and 6 being timelike and constituting the hidden variables. http://www.arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0501034. This is not a "TD" type of theory, and Chen has the theoretical chops to have been an arxiv contributer for years. I know there has been interest in...
  11. C

    Is it possible to complete QuantumTheory by Hidden Variables?

    I think that fon Neumann's Theorem about unpossibility of Hidden Variables does not include the all kind of Hidden Variables. There is HV, which does not have the corresponding to one operator to one quantitative which measurable. In addition Bell's Inequality does not include this class of...
  12. S

    Hidden Variables in Quantum Mechanics

    I've always though of particles in the following sense: If you do NOT measure/decohere a particle in some way, it exists ONLY as a probability wave--there is no "actual" number for each of its unknown quantity, just a probability of what it will be. There are no "hidden variables" that we...
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