Challenging local realism with human choices

Abellan C, Acin A, Alarcon A, Alibart O, Andersen CK, Andreoli F, Beckert A, Beduini FA, Bendersky A, Bentivegna M, Bierhorst P, Burchardt D, Cabello A, Carine J, Carrasco S, Carvacho G, Cavalcanti D, Chaves R, Cortes-Vega J, Cuevas A, Delgado AP, De Riedmatten H, Eichler C, Farrera P, Fuenzalida J, Garcia-Matos M, Garthoff R, Gasparinetti S, Gerrits T, Jouneghani FG, Glancy S, Gomez ES, Gonzalez P, Guan JY, Handsteiner J, Heinsoo J, Heinze G, Hirschmann A, Jimenez O, Kaiser F, Knill E, Knoll LT, Krinner S, Kurpiers P, Larotonda MA, Larsson JA, Lenhard A, Li H, Li MH, Lima G, Liu B, Liu Y, Lopez Grande IH, Lunghi T, Ma X, Magana-Loaiza OS, Magnard P, Magnoni A, Marti-Prieto M, Martinez D, Mataloni P, Mattar A, Mazzera M, Mirin RP, Mitchell MW, Nam S, Oppliger M, Pan JW, Patel RB, Pryde GJ, Rauch D, Redeker K, Rielander D, Ringbauer M, Roberson T, Rosenfeld W, Salathe Y, Santodonato L, Sauder G, Scheidl T, Schmiegelow CT, Sciarrino F, Seri A, Shalm LK, Shi SC, Slussarenko S, Stevens MJ, Tanzilli S, Toledo F, Tura J, Ursin R, Vergyris P, Verma VB, Walter T, Wallraff A, Wang Z, Weinfurter H, Weston MM, White AG, Wu C, Xavier GB, You L, Yuan X, Zeilinger A, Zhang Q, Zhang W, Zhong J (2018)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2018

Journal

Book Volume: 557

Pages Range: 212-216

Journal Issue: 7704

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0085-3

Abstract

A Bell test is a randomized trial that compares experimental observations against the philosophical worldview of local realism ¹, in which the properties of the physical world are independent of our observation of them and no signal travels faster than light. A Bell test requires spatially distributed entanglement, fast and high-efficiency detection and unpredictable measurement settings ^2,3 . Although technology can satisfy the first two of these requirements ^4-7, the use of physical devices to choose settings in a Bell test involves making assumptions about the physics that one aims to test. Bell himself noted this weakness in using physical setting choices and argued that human 'free will' could be used rigorously to ensure unpredictability in Bell tests ⁸ . Here we report a set of local-realism tests using human choices, which avoids assumptions about predictability in physics. We recruited about 100,000 human participants to play an online video game that incentivizes fast, sustained input of unpredictable selections and illustrates Bell-test methodology ⁹ . The participants generated 97,347,490 binary choices, which were directed via a scalable web platform to 12 laboratories on five continents, where 13 experiments tested local realism using photons ^5,6, single atoms ⁷, atomic ensembles ¹⁰ and superconducting devices ¹¹ . Over a 12-hour period on 30 November 2016, participants worldwide provided a sustained data flow of over 1,000 bits per second to the experiments, which used different human-generated data to choose each measurement setting. The observed correlations strongly contradict local realism and other realistic positions in bipartite and tripartite ¹² scenarios. Project outcomes include closing the 'freedom-of-choice loophole' (the possibility that the setting choices are influenced by 'hidden variables' to correlate with the particle properties ¹³ ), the utilization of video-game methods ¹⁴ for rapid collection of human-generated randomness, and the use of networking techniques for global participation in experimental science.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) / Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Spain (ES) Universidad de Concepcion Chile (CL) Università degli studi "La Sapienza" Italy (IT) Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETHZ) / Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich Switzerland (CH) Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) / University of Buenos Aires Argentina (AR) Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) / 中国科学院 China (CN) Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Germany (DE) Griffith University Australia (AU) University of Queensland Australia (AU) University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) China (CN) University of Côte d'Azur / Université Côte d'Azur France (FR) National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) United States (USA) (US) University of Seville / Universidad de Sevilla Spain (ES) Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte / Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) Brazil (BR) Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften Austria (AT) Institute of Scientific and Technical Research for Defense (CITEDEF) / Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas para la Defensa Argentina (AR) Linköping University Sweden (SE) Tsinghua University China (CN)

How to cite

APA:

Abellan, C., Acin, A., Alarcon, A., Alibart, O., Andersen, C.K., Andreoli, F.,... Zhong, J. (2018). Challenging local realism with human choices. Nature, 557(7704), 212-216. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0085-3

MLA:

Abellan, C., et al. "Challenging local realism with human choices." Nature 557.7704 (2018): 212-216.

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