Related papers: Causality in Classical Physics
Causality is a non-obvious concept that is often considered to be related to temporality. In this paper we present a number of past and present approaches to the definition of temporality and causality from philosophical, physical, and…
Causality is one of the most fundamental -- and yet elusive -- concepts in physics. From its intuitive role in everyday experience to its formal and often implicit role in scientific theories, causality has challenged philosophers and…
Quantum mechanics is nonlocal. Classical mechanics is local. Consequently classical mechanics can not explain all quantum phenomena. Conversely, it is cumbersome to use quantum mechanics to describe classical phenomena. Not only are the…
The physical meaning and the geometrical interpretation of causality implementation in classical field theories are discussed. Local causality are kinematical constraints dynamically implemented via solutions of the field equations, but in…
The fundamental theories of physics are local theories, depending on local interactions of local variables. It is not clear if and how strictly local theories can produce non-local variables that have causal effectiveness. Yet, non-local…
A mathematical definition of classical causality over discrete spacetime dynamics is formulated. The approach is background free and permits a definition of causality in a precise way whenever the spacetime dynamics permits. It gives a…
The possibility of non-causal signal propagation is examined for various theories of dense matter. This investigation requires a discussion of definitions of causality, together with interpretations of spacetime position. Specific examples…
Determining and measuring cause-effect relationships is fundamental to most scientific studies of natural phenomena. The notion of causation is distinctly different from correlation which only looks at association of trends or patterns in…
Quantum mechanics permits nonlocality - both nonlocal correlations and nonlocal equations of motion - while respecting relativistic causality. Is quantum mechanics the unique theory that reconciles nonlocality and causality? We consider two…
The problem of causality is analyzed in the context of Local Quantum Field Theory. Contrary to recent claims, it is shown that apparent noncausal behaviour is due to a lack of the notion of sharp localizability for a relativistic quantum…
A tradition handed down among physicists maintains that classical physics is a perfectly deterministic theory capable of predicting the future with absolute certainty, independently of any interpretations. It also tells that it was quantum…
In a causal world the direction of the time arrow dictates how past causal events in a variable $X$ produce future effects in $Y$. $X$ is said to cause an effect in $Y$, if the predictability (uncertainty) about the future states of $Y$…
Physics is formulated in terms of timeless classical mathematics. A formulation on the basis of intuitionist mathematics, built on time-evolving processes, would offer a perspective that is closer to our experience of physical reality.
I explain in what sense the structure of space and time is probably vague or indefinite, a notion I define. This leads to the mathematical representation of location in space and time by a vague interval. From this, a principle of…
A theory governing the metric and matter fields in spacetime is {\it locally causal} if the probability distribution for the fields in any region is determined solely by physical data in the region's past, i.e. it is independent of events…
Philosophical analyses of causation take many forms but one major difficulty they all aim to address is that of the spatio-temporal continuity between causes and their effects. Bertrand Russell in 1913 brought the problem to its most…
The idea that events obey a definite causal order is deeply rooted in our understanding of the world and at the basis of the very notion of time. But where does causal order come from, and is it a necessary property of nature? We address…
Causality never gained the status of a "law" or "principle" in physics. Some recent literature even popularized the false idea that causality is a notion that should be banned from theory. Such misconception relies on an alleged…
The aim of this paper is to give a sharp definition of Bell's notion of local causality. To this end, first we unfold a framework, called local physical theory, integrating probabilistic and spatiotemporal concepts. Formulating local…
What violations of Bell inequalities teach us is that the world is quantum mechanical, i.e., nonclassical. Assertions that they imply the world is nonlocal arise from ignoring differences between quantum and classical physics.