English

Experimental test of local observer-independence

Quantum Physics 2019-11-05 v2

Abstract

The scientific method relies on facts, established through repeated measurements and agreed upon universally, independently of who observed them. In quantum mechanics, the objectivity of observations is not so clear, most dramatically exposed in Eugene Wigner's eponymous thought experiment where two observers can experience seemingly different realities. The question whether these realities can be reconciled in an observer-independent way has long remained inaccessible to empirical investigation, until recent no-go-theorems constructed an extended Wigner's friend scenario with four observers that allows us to put it to the test. In a state-of-the-art 6-photon experiment, we realise this extended Wigner's friend scenario, experimentally violating the associated Bell-type inequality by 5 standard deviations. If one holds fast to the assumptions of locality and free-choice, this result implies that quantum theory should be interpreted in an observer-dependent way.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1902.05080,
  title  = {Experimental test of local observer-independence},
  author = {Massimiliano Proietti and Alexander Pickston and Francesco Graffitti and Peter Barrow and Dmytro Kundys and Cyril Branciard and Martin Ringbauer and Alessandro Fedrizzi},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1902.05080},
  year   = {2019}
}

Comments

5+5 pages, 6 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-23T07:40:18.271Z