Simulating quantum mechanics by noncontextual hidden variables

Abstract Bell’s theorem (Bell 1964) establishes that local hidden variable theories are committed to Bell inequalities violated by quantum correlations. Since violations of Bell inequalities can be verified without requiring that the observables whose correlations figure in the inequalities be measured with arbitrarily high precision, Bell’s theorem yields a method of falsifying local hidden variable the­ ories. Moreover, the evidence for violations of Bell inequalities We thank J. Finklestein, N. D. Mermin, and an anonymous referee for helpful comments. A. K. was supported by a Royal Society University Research Fellow­ ship and thanks the Oxford Centre for Quantum Computation for much appreciated hospitality.