Path: cactus.org!milano!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!news.bbn.com!news.bbn.com From: aboulang@bbn.com (Albert Boulanger) Newsgroups: sci.crypt Subject: Re: Are there truly random phenomena? Message-ID:Date: 11 Aug 91 13:57:03 GMT References: <44901@cup.portal.com> <15218@ulysses.att.com> <148@mtnmath.UUCP> + <16951@smoke.brl.mil> <150@mtnmath.UUCP> Sender: news@news.bbn.com (USENET News System) Reply-To: aboulanger@bbn.com Organization: BBN, Cambridge MA Lines: 38 Nntp-Posting-Host: kariba.bbn.com In-reply-to: paul@mtnmath.UUCP's message of 6 Aug 91 20:36:40 GMT In article <150@mtnmath.UUCP> paul@mtnmath.UUCP (Paul Budnik) writes: The recent experimental results relating to Bell's work that I am familiar with have nothing to do with determinism but only locality. If you are aware of any related to determinism I would appreciate a reference. The results all support quantum mechanics but they are inconclusive about locality for reasons I gave in a previous post. Here is one reference that address the issue of determinism: "Randomness in Quantum Mechanics -- Nature's Ultimate Cryptogram?" T. Erber & S. Putterman, Nature Vol 318 (7 November) 1985 41-43 Abstract: "Will a single atom irradiated by coherent light be equivalent to an infinite computer as regards its ability to generate random numbers? As described here, a search for unexpected patterns of order by cryptanalysis of the telegraph signal generated by the on/off time of the atom's fluorescence will provide new experimental tests of the fundamental principles of quantum theory." From the text: "The axiomatic development is deliberately silent concerning any requirements that the measurable functions be non-deteriminite of that the elements if the probability space correspond to inherently unpredictable or erratic events." Tom Erber has a large monograph on experiments along the lines of this paper. So far, the signals they studied look random. Regrads, Albert Boulanger aboulanger@bbn.com