Contextuality and nonlocality in decaying multipartite systems

Everyday experience supports the existence of physical properties independent of observation in strong contrast to the predictions of quantum theory. In particular, the existence of physical properties that are independent of the measurement context is prohibited for certain quantum systems. This property is known as contextuality. This Rapid Communication studies whether the process of decay in space-time generally destroys the ability of revealing contextuality. We find that in the most general situation the decay property does not diminish this ability. However, applying certain constraints due to the space-time structure either on the time evolution of the decaying system or on the measurement procedure, the criteria revealing contextuality become inherently dependent on the decay property or an impossibility. In particular, we derive how the context-revealing setup known as Bell's nonlocality tests changes for decaying quantum systems. Our findings illustrate the interdependence between hidden and local hidden parameter theories and the role of time.