Bell Inequalities as Constraints on Unmeasurable Correlations

The interpretation of the violation of Bell-Clauser-Horne inequalities is revisited, in relation with the notion of extension of QM predictions to unmeasurable correlations. Such extensions are compatible with QM predictions in many cases, in particular for observables with compatibility relations described by tree graphs. This implies classical representability of any set of correlations 〈A i〉, 〈B〉, 〈A iB〉, and the equivalence of the Bell-Clauser-Horne inequalities to a non void intersection between the ranges of values for the unmeasurable correlation 〈A 1A 2〉 associated to different choices for B. The same analysis applies to the Hardy model and to the "perfect correlations" discussed by Greenberger, Horne, Shimony and Zeilinger. In all the cases, the dependence of an unmeasurable correlation on a set of variables allowing for a classical representation is the only basis for arguments about violations of locality and causality. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.