A limit on nonlocality in any world in which communication complexity is not trivial

Gilles Brassard, Harry Buhrman, Noah Linden, Andre A. Methot, Alain Tapp, Falk Unger

Published 2005-08-04Version 1

Bell proved that quantum entanglement enables two space-like separated parties to exhibit classically impossible correlations. Even though these correlations are stronger than anything classically achievable, they cannot be harnessed to make instantaneous (faster than light) communication possible. Yet, Popescu and Rohrlich have shown that even stronger correlations can be defined, under which instantaneous communication remains impossible. This raises the question: Why are the correlations achievable by quantum mechanics not maximal among those that preserve causality? We give a partial answer to this question by showing that slightly stronger correlations would result in a world in which communication complexity becomes trivial.