Bell’s inequality and detector inefficiency

Abstract

In this paper, a method of generalizing the Bell inequality is presented that makes it possible to include detector inefficiency directly in the original Bell inequality. To enable this, the concept of “change of ensemble” will be presented, providing both qualitative and quantitative information on the nature of the “loophole” in the proof of the original Bell inequality. In a local hidden-variable model lacking change of ensemble, the generalized inequality reduces to an inequality that quantum mechanics violates as strongly as the original Bell inequality, irrespective of the level of efficiency of the detectors. A model that contains change of ensemble lowers the violation, and a bound for the level of change is obtained. The derivation of the bound in this paper is not dependent upon any symmetry assumptions such as constant efficiency, or even the assumption of independent errors.