Is There Causation in Fundamental Physics? New Insights from Process Matrices and Quantum Causal Modelling

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2208.02721v1
• Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2022 15:36:03 GMT
• Title: Is There Causation in Fundamental Physics? New Insights from Process Matrices and Quantum Causal Modelling
• Authors: Emily Adlam
• Abstract summary: We argue that causal order plays an important role in grounding more familiar causal phenomena. We argue that since no-signalling quantum correlations cannot exhibit causal order, they should not be analysed using classical causal models.
• Score: 0.0
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: In this article we set out to understand the significance of the process matrix formalism and the quantum causal modelling programme for ongoing disputes about the role of causation in fundamental physics. We argue that the process matrix programme has correctly identified a notion of 'causal order' which plays an important role in fundamental physics, but this notion is weaker than the common-sense conception of causation because it does not involve asymmetry. We argue that causal order plays an important role in grounding more familiar causal phenomena. Then we apply these conclusions to the causal modelling programme within quantum foundations, arguing that since no-signalling quantum correlations cannot exhibit causal order, they should not be analysed using classical causal models. This resolves an open question about how to interpret fine-tuning in classical causal models of no-signalling correlations. Finally we observe that a quantum generalization of causal modelling can play a similar functional role to standard causal reasoning, but we emphasize that this functional characterisation does not entail that quantum causal models offer novel explanations of quantum processes.

Related papers

• A Semantics for Counterfactuals in Quantum Causal Models [0.0]
  We introduce a formalism for the evaluation of counterfactual queries in the framework of quantum causal models. We show that every classical (probabilistic) structural causal model can be extended to a quantum structural causal model.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2023-02-23T05:00:14Z)
• Universality of critical dynamics with finite entanglement [68.8204255655161]
  We study how low-energy dynamics of quantum systems near criticality are modified by finite entanglement. Our result establishes the precise role played by entanglement in time-dependent critical phenomena.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2023-01-23T19:23:54Z)
• Admissible Causal Structures and Correlations [0.0]
  We study limitations on causal structures and correlations imposed by local quantum theory. For one, we find a necessary graph theoretic criterion--the "siblings-on-cycles" property--for a causal structure to be admissible. We show that these causal models, in a restricted setting, are indeed consistent.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2022-10-23T17:33:47Z)
• Active Bayesian Causal Inference [72.70593653185078]
  We propose Active Bayesian Causal Inference (ABCI), a fully-Bayesian active learning framework for integrated causal discovery and reasoning. ABCI jointly infers a posterior over causal models and queries of interest. We show that our approach is more data-efficient than several baselines that only focus on learning the full causal graph.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2022-06-04T22:38:57Z)
• Entanglement, Complexity, and Causal Asymmetry in Quantum Theories [0.0]
  It is often claimed that one cannot locate a notion of causation in fundamental physical theories. I argue that this is incorrect: the ubiquitous generation of entanglement between quantum systems grounds a relevant in the dynamical evolution of quantum systems.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2022-04-14T03:41:18Z)
• A general framework for cyclic and fine-tuned causal models and their compatibility with space-time [2.0305676256390934]
  Causal modelling is a tool for generating causal explanations of observed correlations. Existing frameworks for quantum causality tend to focus on acyclic causal structures that are not fine-tuned. Cyclist causal models can be used to model physical processes involving feedback. Cyclist causal models may also be relevant in exotic solutions of general relativity.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2021-09-24T18:00:08Z)
• Quantum Causal Inference in the Presence of Hidden Common Causes: an Entropic Approach [34.77250498401055]
  We put forth a new theoretical framework for merging quantum information science and causal inference by exploiting entropic principles. We apply our proposed framework to an experimentally relevant scenario of identifying message senders on quantum noisy links. This approach can lay the foundations of identifying originators of malicious activity on future multi-node quantum networks.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2021-04-24T22:45:50Z)
• Quantum Entropic Causal Inference [30.939150842529052]
  We put forth a new theoretical framework for merging quantum information science and causal inference by exploiting entropic principles. We apply our proposed framework to an experimentally relevant scenario of identifying message senders on quantum noisy links.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2021-02-23T15:51:34Z)
• Self-adjointness in Quantum Mechanics: a pedagogical path [77.34726150561087]
  This paper aims to make quantum observables emerge as necessarily self-adjoint, and not merely hermitian operators. Next to the central core of our line of reasoning, the necessity of a non-trivial declaration of a domain to associate with the formal action of an observable.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2020-12-28T21:19:33Z)
• Causal Expectation-Maximisation [70.45873402967297]
  We show that causal inference is NP-hard even in models characterised by polytree-shaped graphs. We introduce the causal EM algorithm to reconstruct the uncertainty about the latent variables from data about categorical manifest variables. We argue that there appears to be an unnoticed limitation to the trending idea that counterfactual bounds can often be computed without knowledge of the structural equations.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2020-11-04T10:25:13Z)
• Cyclic Quantum Causal Models [0.0]
  Causal reasoning is essential to science, yet quantum theory challenges it. Quantum correlations violating Bell inequalities defy satisfactory causal explanations. A theory encompassing quantum systems and gravity is expected to allow causally nonseparable processes.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2020-02-27T15:07:22Z)

This list is automatically generated from the titles and abstracts of the papers in this site.

This site does not guarantee the quality of this site (including all information) and is not responsible for any consequences.