Origin and meaning of quantum nonlocality

L. de la Peña, A. M. Cetto, A. Valdés-Hernández, H. M. França

Published 2011-10-20Version 1

Quantum nonlocality is revisited from a novel point of view by studying the problem of an originally classical particle immersed in the stochastic zero-point radiation field (zpf). The entire system is left to evolve until it reaches a state in which the radiative terms cancel each other in the mean in a first approximation. The ensuing approximate statistical description reduced to the particle's configuration space contains a nonclassical term due to the dispersion of the momentum, which depends on the density of particles {\rho}(x) and thus is nonlocal. This description is shown to be equivalent to Schr\"odinger's equation and its complex conjugate. The nonlocal term is recognized as the so-called quantum potential, thus solving the long standing problem of the origin and meaning of this term. Further, the relationship between the Wigner function and a true Kolmogorovian probability density in phase space is discussed from the perspective provided by this theory.