** The primary topic of this dissertation is the study of the relationships
between parts and wholes as described by particular physical theories, namely
generalized probability theories in a quasi-classical physics framework and
non-relativistic quantum theory.
** A large part of this dissertation is devoted to understanding different
aspects of four different kinds of correlations: local, partially-local,
no-signaling and quantum mechanical correlations. Novel characteristics of
these correlations have been used to study how they are related and how they
can be discerned via Bell-type inequalities that give non-trivial bounds on the
strength of the correlations.
** The study of quantum correlations has also prompted us to study a) the
multi-partite qubit state space with respect to its entanglement and
separability characteristics, and b) the differing strength of the correlations
in separable and entangled qubit states. Results include a novel classification
of multipartite (partial) separability and entanglement, strong constraints on
the monogamy of entanglement and of non-local correlations, and many new
entanglement detection criteria that are directly experimentally accessible.
** Because of the generality of the investigation these results also have
strong foundational as well as philosophical repercussions for the different
sorts of physical theories as a whole; notably for the viability of hidden
variable theories for quantum mechanics, for the possibility of doing
experimental metaphysics, for the question of holism in physical theories, and
for the classical vs. quantum dichotomy.Comment: Dissertation, Utrecht University, 2008. 286 pages. ISBN:
978-90-3934916-8. A hard copy is obtainable via Igitur of the Utrecht
University Library. This version 3 has exactly the same content as the
version 2. Only the page layout has been changed to match the hard copy
layout of the Dissertation which is on B5 forma