Nonlocality and the Aharonov-Bohm Effect

Richard Healey

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

36 Scopus citations

Abstract

At first sight the Aharonov-Bohm effect appears nonlocal, though not in the way EPR/ Bell correlations are generally acknowledged to be nonlocal. This paper applies an analysis of nonlocality to the Aharonov-Bohm effect to show that its peculiarities may be blamed either on a failure of a principle of local action or on a failure of a principle of separability. Different interpretations of quantum mechanics disagree on how blame should be allocated. The parallel between the Aharonov-Bohm effect and violations of Bell inequalities turns out to be so close that a balanced assessment of the nature and significance of quantum nonlocality requires a detailed study of both effects.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)18-41
Number of pages24
JournalPhilosophy of Science
Volume64
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 1997
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • History
  • Philosophy
  • History and Philosophy of Science

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