English

Time, quantum entanglement, and particle decay

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2025-09-05 v1 High Energy Physics - Experiment Quantum Physics

Abstract

We investigate the role of time ordering in entanglement experiments involving unstable particles, focusing on μ+μ\mu^+ \mu^- pairs produced in a maximally-entangled spin state. We analyse the correlations between measurements performed by two experimenters, Alice (who measures μ\mu^- spin) and Bob (who measures μ+\mu^+ decay products). Remarkably, the observed correlations persist irrespective of whether Bob's muon decays before or after Alice's spin measurement. We further discuss different interpretations of the same empirical results depending on the observer's reference frame. The findings reinforce the viewpoint that the Copenhagen interpretation of measurement is a mathematical tool rather than a literal account of physical reality.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2509.04436,
  title  = {Time, quantum entanglement, and particle decay},
  author = {J. A. Aguilar-Saavedra},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2509.04436},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

LaTeX 8 pages, 2 figures; to be submitted to the Proceedings of the Corfu Summer Institute 2025 "School and Workshops on Elementary Particle Physics and Gravity"

R2 v1 2026-07-01T05:21:41.344Z