UNIVERSITE DE GENEVE
Ecole de physique - Département de physique nucléaire et corspusculaire
24, Quai Ernest-Ansermet
1211 GENEVE 4
Tél: (022) 379 62 73 - Fax: (022) 379 69 92
Wednesday 28 November 2007
PARTICLE PHYSICS SEMINAR
at 17.00 hrs – Stückelberg Auditorium
Manifest non-locality of bound electromagnetic fields in near zone of radiating sources: experimental observation
by Dr R. Smirnov-Rueda, Complutense University, Madrid Spain
Standard relativistic locality (causality) is referred as impossibility of superluminal propagation. The creation of Quantum Mechanics (QM) led to Bell’s theorem which in the most general form sorted out QM predictions of strong correlations between space-like separated systems from probabilities of measurement outcomes calculated on the basis of local realism. EPR-type experiments gave support to QM predictions, casting doubts on standard locality. Since then common view has it that the quantum realm involves some type of misterious non-locality because it has no analogy in the classical worldview.
As response to the above-mentioned controversy on non-locality we propose a novel approach which concerns only classical relativistic field theory. We found that the actual experimental verification of the standard locality within domains of classical electromagnetism is essentially incomplete since it does not take into account the internal structure of EM field as a superposition of bound and radiation components. Any ideally rigorous test of EM field causality must be based on individual tests for both components so that our experimental procedure made a clear distinction between the near and the far zones where bound and radiation fields are dominant, respectively. Measurements were carried out in two different configurations between emitting and receiving antennas at 125 MHz (??2.5 m) clearly showing that the propagation rate of bound EM fields highly exceeds the velocity of light in the near zone but tends to c in far zone. It might indicate on a possible constraint on locality within transition from QM to classical phenomena.
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Organizer: J.-S. Graulich