Invitation to the 5th Erwin Schrödinger Distinguished Lecture by Prof. Gilles Brassard
One of the most surprising aspects of quantum theory is that it tells us that we live in a nonlocal universe in which random correlations seem to appear instantaneously between arbitrarily distant locations. This idea was completely abhorrent to Einstein, who dismissed it as "spooky action at a distance", but its experimental confirmation half a century ago led to this year's Nobel Prize. More recently, so-called loophole-free experiments conducted in Vienna and elsewhere in 2015 confirmed nonlocality beyond any reasonable doubt. But have they really? In this talk, I shall argue that no experiment whose purpose is to confirm the predictions of quantum theory can possibly be used as an argument in favour of nonlocality because any theory of physics that does not allow instantaneous signalling to occur and has reversible dynamics (such as unitary quantum theory) can be explained in a purely local and realistic universe. What if Einstein was right after all?... Once again!
No prior knowledge of quantum theory will be assumed. This talk is based on the original doctoral work of Paul Raymond-Robichaud while under the supervision of the speaker.
