Causality is rare: some topological properties of causal quantum channels

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2603.25315v2
• Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2026 13:36:55 GMT
• Title: Causality is rare: some topological properties of causal quantum channels
• Abstract summary: We show that causality of a quantum channel in QFT is an additional constraint on quantum operations above and beyond the locality of the channel.<n>We connect this result to quantum information, showing that the set of causal unitaries has Haar measure $0$ in the set of all unitaries acting on a lattice.
• Score: 0.0
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
• Abstract: Sorkin's impossible operations demonstrate that causality of a quantum channel in QFT is an additional constraint on quantum operations above and beyond the locality of the channel. What has not been shown in the literature so far is how much of a constraint it is. Here we answer this question in perhaps the strongest possible terms: the set of causal channels is nowhere dense in the set of local channels. We connect this result to quantum information, showing that the set of causal unitaries has Haar measure $0$ in the set of all unitaries acting on a lattice. Finally, we close with discussion on the implications and connections to recent QFT measurement models.

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