Abstract

In quantum mechanics non-locality refers to an interaction or influence that goes beyond a local space-time region. Typical examples are the quantum correlations of entangled elementary particles and the interference patterns in a double-slit experiment. While according to Bell's theorem or the principle of superposition of quantum states it is the breakdown of local realism that is responsible for producing the statistical correlations or interference patterns that are predicted by quantum mechanics, it is not always without dispute what the exact roles of locality and realism are in these occasions. Here we present some physical scenarios where the non-local feature involved means the abilities of light photons to detect a subtle difference in their macroscopic experimental settings, and it turns out that this new feature of non-locality is not only above the locality-or-realism debate but also represents a rather new understanding of the unbroken wholeness of Nature. What is most impressive, however, is the fact that this new non-locality feature has some interesting consequences for some century-old issues in physics and astrophysics, for example, the Moon origin debate, the real physical mechanism behind the principle of relativity, and the apparent conflict between the astronomical phenomenon of stellar aberration and the null result of the Michelson-Morley experiment, just to name a few.