EMPIRICAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE SCIENTIFIC CONSTRUCTION - THE PROGRAM OF LOCAL HIDDEN-VARIABLES THEORIES IN QUANTUM-MECHANICS

We claim that physics has been constructed because three ''philosophic al'' principles have been respected, namely, realism, locality, and co nsistency. These principles lead to an interpretation of quantum mecha nics (QM) in terms of local hidden-variables theories (LHV). In order to prove that LHV have not been refuted, we analyze the empirical proo fs of Bell's inequalities and we argue that none is loophole-free. The n we propose a restricted QM that does not contain measurement postula tes and that does not claim that all state vectors (self-adjoint opera tors) are states (observables). The contradiction of such restricted Q M with Bell's inequality cannot be shown as a theorem, but only by the design of a loophole-free experiment. Finally, we argue that noise ha s been underestimated in quantum theory. It does not appear in QM, but it is essential in quantum field theory. We conjecture that noise wil l prevent the violation of Bell's inequality.