Neither Incomplete nor Non-Local, Just Entangled

Abstract

Bell-state experiments with pairs of polarization-entangled photons are interpreted without any hinge on non-local mechanisms. The presented model rests on a careful analysis of published experimental findings. These foundations are implemented into a standard quantum mechanical treatment that obeys the purely local nature of each polarization preparation in the course of a measurement process. Polarization entanglement is ascribed to the generation of indiscernible photon pairs while undistorted propagation maintains this interrelation. Thus, the proposed approach assigns the essential characteristics of polarization entanglement to each constituent of an entangled pair. Accordingly, space-time separated polarization preparations lead to consistent probabilities of joint detection events. The obtained results agree with those of previous non-local models and thus reproduce the experimentally required violations of the Bell inequality. Since the presented approach lacks any non-local phenomenon, hidden variables are rendered superfluous, too.