Dear Dr. Klingman,
Gary Simpson suggested that I read your essay and comment on it as well as write to you concerning my own research and essay.
I did read your essay a couple of times as well as some of your other writings on Spin. It would be interesting and fun to ask you more questions to help me understand more clearly your analyses and arguments. Maybe in the future. But right now I want to briefly discuss with you the most surprising thing that struck me as a new revelation or idea that I had not fully appreciated before. It was your discussion of "Credos," particularly the "Quantum Credo." I'm an engineering mechanicist and I realize that I probably believe in my own Credo; call it the "Mechanicist Credo" or the "Engineer's Credo."
If you read my essay, you'll see that I started out with picturing our universe as a "stochastic process design" based on my engineering work with such processes. About twenty years ago I became interested in Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Theory and how these fit into the possibility of universal design. I read as many textbooks and papers as I could and started conducting my own research into quantum mechanics. Of course, I approached this believing in my own Credo. I wrote and submitted four letters and papers to the APS, made a presentation at the 2014 Physics Conference in Denver, and wrote a booklet arguing against quantum entanglement (sent copies to 33 physicists for review.) All of my writings were summarily rejected or ignored. After reading your essay, I'm wondering if it was because I was trying to argue against the existing "Quantum Credo." Also, I think that I regrettably presented myself perhaps as a "know-it-all."
I still cannot understand or accept some aspects of the QM "Quantum Credo":
... That physical properties of real objects, including quantum particles, can exist in probabilistic states. This belief leads to what seems to be "magical" quantum phenomena such as "quantum entanglement" and the "EPR paradox." Quantum entanglement requires that the true (real time) position of a quantum particle can exist in a probabilistic state and not necessarily be fixed in real time.
... That "spin" can exist as the sum of two or more probability vectors. This leads to the belief in the existence of the "qubit," another seemingly magical phenomenon.
... That the path actually taken by a quantum particle includes simultaneous motion along many different independent paths. This is based on probability arguments and not on any cause-effect model.
"Mechanicist Credo":
... The theory of probability deals with averages of mass phenomena (Papoulis) and cannot represent a single event or represent a single particle.
... Every real object including the quantum particle has real "physical properties" of position, linear momentum and spin (which I equate with angular momentum.)
... A particle follows a single path in going from one point in space to another.
My understanding: Among other things, every quantum particle that has spin is in a "pure spin" state, having a single spin about a fixed axis of rotation in space. There may be particle to particle random variation of the fixed spin axis itself. All laboratory apparatus that measures spin can only determine a "component" of the original "pure spin." To me, this includes Stern-Gerlach for electrons and measurements of photon spin along different "component axes."
The most significant prediction made by the "pure spin" model is when it is applied to the experimental correlation studies of twin photon particle spin components involving Bell's inequality and performed initially by Aspect, Freedman, Clauser and many others. Spin measurements are separately made about different component axes on twin particles and the results compared with each other. Without going into details, the percent of matches actually measured for a particular experimental setup was 50%. The predicted percent of matches based on assuming the pure spin model is exactly 50%, a perfect prediction. Assuming the QM model, however, a greater than 66.66% matches is predicted. The discrepancy with test data for the QM model can be explained only if one can assume the existence of the phenomenon called "quantum entanglement." Also Bell's inequality doesn't apply in these experiments since Bell assumes that "component" spins are independent. In the pure spin model, they aren't.
I hope that I'm not confusing the issues of interest here. I would really appreciate your take on physical stochastic models versus the QM model.
Thank you very much for your time,
Sincerely yours,
Ronald Racicot