Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox, statistical locality and the time-energy uncertainty relation

Abstract

It has been suggested that "partial collapse" of the wave function into non-orthogonal states in EPR type configurations may lead to observable violations of the Einstein locality principle at the statistical level. The aim of this note is to show that, irrespective of the details of any theoretical scheme of partial collapse, the time-energy uncertainty relation places severe constraints on the possibility of observing such violations. This result follows from the assumptions that: (i) the usual calculational algorithms of quantum mechanics are correct, and (ii) energy (mass) measurements play a crucial role in the identification of states.