Proposal of an Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen experiment with molecules

Suppose that a pair of entities which have been generated jointly from a common source are separated by an experimental device so that they cannot interact any more. Then, strictly formulating within the framework of traditional quantum mechanics, the ensemble of all pairs may be represented by either a separable or a non-separable statistical operator. The former stands for the independence of the sub-ensembles whereas the latter admits correlations (EPR correlations) due to the presence of interference or cross terms. The second-order correlation function Δ, which is also amenable by experiment, adopts different values depending on the choice of the statistical operator. So, by performing an experiment of this kind with molecules, the question could be decided whether EPR correlations appear in the molecular domain too. A detailed elaboration of the following idea is presented: let an achiral precursor molecule M₂ dissociate so that two chiral fragments of different handedness are obtained. After separation R-M (L-M) interacts in a region of space A (B) with a photon I (II) in an already known linear polarization state. The enantiomeric correlation between the fragments is thereby conferred to the photons, and the corresponding changes of the polarization state are detected for different polarizer settings to finally yield Δ. Received 10 May 2000 and Received in final form 25 August 2000