Spurious quantum correlations
Abstract
In his seminal paper, Bell [Physics Physique Fizika 1, 195 (1964)] considers the correlations that result from space-like separated measurements on a pair of entangled particles. He uses relativity theory to motivate the Bell causal structure, then shows the existence of quantum correlations that cannot be explained classically within this causal structure. Classical explanations of such quantum correlations are possible in alternative causal structures, for instance, those that allow superluminal causal influences, but, as shown in [New Journal of Physics 17 033002 ( 2015)], all such alternative explanations require fine tuning (causation without correlation). Here we discuss the existence of spurious quantum correlations -correlations that look quantum in one causal structure, but have a natural classical explanation in another. More precisely, there are causal structures that admit nonclassical quantum correlations, but for which the same correlations have a classical explanation in another causal structure without fine tuning. The realisation in the other causal structure can also be achieved without breaking any natural constraints on the causal structure that follow from relativity theory. However, similarly to non-classical quantum correlations in the Bell causal structure, we find other causal structures with non-classical quantum correlations that do not have a classical causal explanation in any alternative causal structure without fine tuning.
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BibTeX
@misc{khanna2026spurious,
title = {{Spurious quantum correlations}},
author = {Shashaank Khanna and Matthew F Pusey and Roger Colbeck},
howpublished = {HAL},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.04157},
eprint = {2609.04157},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05740213v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Spurious quantum correlations
AU - Shashaank Khanna
AU - Matthew F Pusey
AU - Roger Colbeck
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/03
PB - HAL
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.04157
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05740213v1
AB - In his seminal paper, Bell [Physics Physique Fizika 1, 195 (1964)] considers the correlations that result from space-like separated measurements on a pair of entangled particles. He uses relativity theory to motivate the Bell causal structure, then shows the existence of quantum correlations that cannot be explained classically within this causal structure. Classical explanations of such quantum correlations are possible in alternative causal structures, for instance, those that allow superluminal causal influences, but, as shown in [New Journal of Physics 17 033002 ( 2015)], all such alternative explanations require fine tuning (causation without correlation). Here we discuss the existence of spurious quantum correlations -correlations that look quantum in one causal structure, but have a natural classical explanation in another. More precisely, there are causal structures that admit nonclassical quantum correlations, but for which the same correlations have a classical explanation in another causal structure without fine tuning. The realisation in the other causal structure can also be achieved without breaking any natural constraints on the causal structure that follow from relativity theory. However, similarly to non-classical quantum correlations in the Bell causal structure, we find other causal structures with non-classical quantum correlations that do not have a classical causal explanation in any alternative causal structure without fine tuning.
ER -