EPR correlations, Bell inequalities and common cause systems

Hofer-Szabó, Gábor (2014) EPR correlations, Bell inequalities and common cause systems. In: Probing the Meaning of Quantum Mechanics: Physical, Philosophical and Logical Perspectives. World Scientific.

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Abstract

Standard common causal explanations of the EPR situation assume a so-called joint common cause system that is a common cause for all correlations. However, the assumption of a joint common cause system together with some other physically motivated assumptions concerning locality and no-conspiracy results in various Bell inequalities. Since Bell inequalities are violated for appropriate measurement settings, a local, non-conspiratorial joint common causal explanation of the EPR situation is ruled out. But why do we assume that a common causal explanation of a set of correlation consists in finding a joint common cause system for all correlations and not just in finding separate common cause systems for the different correlations? What are the perspectives of a local, non-conspiratorial separate common causal explanation for the EPR scenario? And finally, how do Bell inequalities relate to the weaker assumption of separate common cause systems?

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