English

Complementarity Beyond Definite Causal Order

Quantum Physics 2026-03-31 v1 Mathematical Physics math.MP

Abstract

Wave--particle duality is a cornerstone of quantum mechanics, traditionally formulated under definite causal order. We investigate how complementarity is modified when the temporal order of operations is coherently superposed, as in the quantum switch. We show that no universal linear additive complementarity relation exists that simultaneously captures path distinguishability, spatial coherence, and coherence between causal orders. This reveals a fundamental separation between spatial and causal resources, which reside on different subsystems and are therefore not jointly constrained by a single quantum state. While tracing out the order qubit recovers the standard duality relation at the level of the reduced quanton--detector state, coherence between causal orders is not accessible at the level of the reduced description. To capture this contribution, we introduce \emph{causal coherence}, defined as the coherence of the order qubit, which quantifies interference between alternative causal orders and is operationally measurable; we construct explicit processes in which spatial duality is saturated while causal coherence is maximal. We further show that complementarity admits a state-dependent entropic formulation based on incompatible measurements on the causal degree of freedom; unlike generic state-dependent relations, this formulation arises from a universal uncertainty principle and provides a canonical operationally meaningful description. These results establish that complementarity is fundamentally shaped by causal structure and cannot, in general, be fully captured at the level of reduced quantum states alone.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2603.27780,
  title  = {Complementarity Beyond Definite Causal Order},
  author = {Mohd Asad Siddiqui and Md Qutubuddin and Tabish Qureshi},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.27780},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

13 pages, 2 figures

R2 v1 2026-07-01T11:43:01.503Z