Does Determinism conflict with Wave-Particle Realism? Proposal for an Experimental Test

Radu Ionicioiu, Thomas Jennewein, Robert B. Mann, Daniel R. Terno

Published 2012-11-05Version 1

Wave-particle duality, superposition and entanglement are among the most counterintuitive aspects of quantum theory. Their clash with classical intuition motivated construction of hidden variable (HV) theories designed to remove or explain these "strange" quantum features, and contributed to the development of quantum technologies. Quantum controlling devices enable us to run experiments in superposition of distinct set-ups, allowing, e.g., a freedom in temporal ordering of the control and detection and forcing modification of the complementarity principle. We study the entanglement-assisted delayed-choice experiment and show that, in the absence of superluminal communication, realism (defined as a property of photons being either particles or waves, but not both) is incompatible with determinism, even if the hidden variable theory satisfying one of these properties reproduces quantum predictions. Our analysis does not use inequalities and is robust against experimental inefficiencies. We outline an experimental design that will be used to test our results.