Bell Inequalities with Retarded Settings

Abstract

We consider retarded settings in the context of a Bell-type experiment. The retarded setting is defined as the value the setting would have taken were it not for some external intervention (for example, by a human). We derive retarded Bell inequalities that explicitly take into account the retarded settings. These inequalities are not violated by Quantum Theory (or any other theory) when the retarded settings are equal to the actual settings. We construct a simple model that reproduces Quantum Theory when the retarded and actual settings are equal, but violates it when they are not. We discuss using humans to choose the settings in this type of experiment and the implications of a violation of Quantum Theory (in agreement with the retarded Bell inequalities) in this context.