Particle physics violating crypto-nonlocal realism

Abstract It has been well established that quantum mechanics (QM) violates Bell inequalities (BI), which are consequences of local realism (LR). Remarkably QM also violates Leggett inequalities (LI), which are consequences of a class of nonlocal realism called crypto-nonlocal realism (CNR). Both LR and CNR assume that measurement outcomes are determined by preexisting objective properties, as well as hidden variables (HV) not considered in QM. We extend CNR and LI to include the case that the measurement settings are not externally fixed, but determined by HV. We derive a new version of LI, which is then shown to be violated by entangled $$B_d$$ B d mesons, if charge–conjugation–parity (CP) symmetry is indirectly violated, as indeed established. The experimental result is quantitatively estimated by using the indirect CP violation parameters, and the maximum of a suitably defined relative violation is about $$2.7\%$$ 2.7 % . Our work implies that particle physics violates CNR. Our LI can also be tested in other systems such as photon polarizations.