AAWSAP DIRD, The Space Communication Implications of Quantum Entanglement and Nonlocality, March 2010

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lead to any causality problems or paradoxes but would bring the remote parts of the
solar system and perhaps the universe to the here and now.
XII. Another Superluminal Possibility: Nonlinear Quantum
Mechanics
Thus far, the focus has been on the possibility of nonlocal communication within the
framework of standard quantum mechanics. However, even if nonlocal communication
proves impossible in standard quantum mechanics, there could be another path to
nonlocal communication.
The no-signal theorems described in Part III above are based on the formalism of
standard quantum mechanics. Such "proofs" become invalid if quantum mechanics is
allowed to be slightly "nonlinear," a technical term meaning that when quantum waves
are superimposed, they may generate a small cross-term not present in the standard
formalism. Steven Weinberg, Nobel laureate for his theoretical work in unifying the
electromagnetic and weak interactions, investigated a theory that introduces small,
nonlinear terms to standard quantum mechanics (Reference 25). The onset of nonlinear
behavior is seen in other areas of physics-for example, laser light in certain media­
and, he suggested, might also be present but unnoticed in quantum mechanics itself.
Weinberg's nonlinear quantum mechanics subtly alters certain properties of the
standard theory, producing new physical effects that can be detected through precise
measurements.
Two years after Weinberg's nonlinear quantum mechanics theory was published, Joseph
Polchinski published a paper demonstrating that Weinberg's nonlinear corrections upset
the balance in quantum mechanics that prevents superluminal communication using
EPR experiments (Reference 26). Through the new nonlinear effects, separated
measurements on the same quantum system begin to "talk" to each other, and faster­
than-light and/or backward-in-time signaling becomes possible. Polchinski describes
such an arrangement as an "EPR telephone."
The Weinberg/Polchinski work had implications that are devastating for the Copenhagen
Interpretation's representation of the wave function as "observer knowledge."
Polchinski has shown that a tiny nonlinear modification transforms the "hidden"
nonlocality of the standard QM formalism into a manifest property that can be used for
nonlocal observer-to-observer communication. This is completely inconsistent with the
Copenhagen Interpretation's "knowledge" interpretation.
Weinberg's experimental predictions have led to a large number of experimental tests
that have searched for the predicted effects. Regrettably, all such experimental
attempts to observe the nonlinear effects have failed, producing only very low upper
limits. Apparently, if there are nonlinear effects that modify the quantum formalism,
they are extremely small in Earth-based laboratories. These negative results are not
surprising, however, because the atomic transitions used involve only a few electron­
volts of energy. If quantum mechanics does have nonlinear properties, they would be
expected to depend on mass-energy and to appear only at a very high energy scale,
particularly at the highest energy densities or in very high gravitational fields. In the
everyday world of weak gravity and fairly flat space, this path to nonlocal
communication appears to be blocked, because the "vehicle" for sending the signal is
not observable.
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