J. G. Filgueiras, R. S. Sarthour, A. M. S. Souza, I. S. Oliveira, R. M. Serra, L. C. Céleri
Wave-particle duality is one of the most important concepts introduced by quantum mechanics. Introduced as a postulate by Bohr, it states that a quantum system can behave as either a wave or a particle, depending on the measurement performed on the system. Several experiments were proposed and performed in order to confirm Bohr's complementarity principle. Another key aspect of quantum physics is entanglement. If two quantum systems are entangled, then they need each other to define themselves. However, it is largely believed that any separable (non-entangled) state can be explained by a local hidden-variable model, which is classical. Is it possible to construct a (classical) local-realistic theory, in which particle and wave are the elements of reality, that reproduces the predictions of quantum theory? We answer this question in the negative. Moreover, we show that this result is independent of the presence of entanglement, showing that two recent experiments performed on a highly noise scenario cannot be efficiently explained by a classical model. Therefore, we are led to conclude that duality is an intrinsic characteristic of any quantum system and cannot be explained in classical terms.
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http://arxiv.org/abs/1208.0802
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