In a Bell-test quantum random-number generator, why can two distant photon measurements being correlated make the randomness claim stronger instead of weaker?
Show answer & explanation
Answer: Classical limits are broken
Photons become identical — The photons do not need to become identical. In fact, identical-looking outputs would be suspicious if they made the next bit easy to guess. Bell tests use a more subtle pattern: individual outcomes stay unpredictable while the joint correlations are too strong for a classical prewritten-answer model.
Measurement noise disappears — Bell certification does not mean ordinary measurement noise magically disappears. The point is not a perfectly quiet machine; it is a correlation pattern that cannot be explained by a local prewritten-answer story under the experiment's assumptions. The randomness claim comes from ruling out that classical script, not from pretending every apparatus detail is ideal.
Classical limits are broken ✓ — The useful correlation is not ordinary predictability; it is a violation of classical limits. If distant entangled photons produce correlations that a local classical system could not prearrange, then their individual measurement outcomes can certify fresh randomness. NIST's descriptions emphasize exactly this pairing: random individual outcomes plus non-classical correlations.
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