Related papers: Accommodating Retrocausality with Free Will
Contrary to counterfactual definiteness quantum theory teaches us that measuring instruments are not passively reading predetermined values of physical observables. Counterfactual definiteness allows proving Bell inequalities. If the…
Predicting the future is an important component of decision making. In most situations, however, there is not enough information to make accurate predictions. In this paper, we develop a theory of causal reasoning for predictive inference…
We analyse a proposition which considers quantum theory as a mere tool for calculating probabilities for sequences of outcomes of observations made by an Observer, who him/herself remains outside the scope of the theory. Predictions are…
Quantum backflow is the classically-forbidden effect pertaining to the fact that a particle with a positive momentum may exhibit a negative probability current at some space-time point. We investigate how this peculiar phenomenon extends to…
Quantum mechanical systems exhibit an inherently probabilistic nature upon measurement which excludes in principle the singular direct observability continual case. Quantum theory of time continuous measurements and quantum prediction…
We show how the shared information between the past and future---the excess entropy---derives from the components of directional information stored in the present---the predictive and retrodictive causal states. A detailed proof allows us…
We consider the role of quantum correlations in the efficient use of information by a predictive quantum system, generalizing a recently proposed classical measure of non-predictive information to the quantum regime. We show that, as a…
We demonstrate that temporal observables, which are sensitive to a system's history (as opposed to its state), implicate entangled histories. We exemplify protocols for measuring such observables, and algorithms for predicting the…
One of the basic assumptions underlying Bell's theorem is the causal arrow of time, having to do with temporal order rather than spatial separation. Nonetheless, the physical assumptions regarding causality are seldom studied in this…
We add non-linear and state-dependent terms to quantum field theory. We show that the resulting low-energy theory, non-linear quantum mechanics, is causal, preserves probability and permits a consistent description of the process of…
Microscopic physical laws are time-symmetric, hence, a priori there exists no preferential temporal direction. However, the second law of thermodynamics allows one to associate the "forward" temporal direction to a positive variation of the…
Quantum mechanics marks a radical departure from the classical understanding of Nature, fostering an inherent randomness which forbids a deterministic description; yet the most fundamental departure arises from something different. As shown…
It is argued that both the "Free Will Theorem" (FWT) and the "relativistic GRW model with Flash Ontology" (rGRWf) hiddenly assume the result of the before-before experiment, and for this reason both FWT and rGRWf imply free will in the…
The quantum backflow effect is a counterintuitive behavior of the probability current of a free particle, which may be negative even for states with vanishing negative momentum component. Here we address the notion of nonclassicality…
The description of an open quantum system's decay almost always requires several approximations as to remain tractable. Here, we first revisit the meaning, domain and seeming contradictions of a few of the most widely used of such…
We present some novel results indicating that time's description in present-day physics is deficient. We use Hawking's information-erasure hypothesis to counter his own claim that time's arrow depends only on initial conditions. Next, we…
Causality plays a central role in understanding interactions between variables in complex systems. These systems often exhibit state-dependent causal relationships, where both the strength and direction of causality vary with the value of…
The title refers to the Free Will Theorem by Conway and Kochen whose flashy formulation is: if experimenters possess free will, then so do particles. In more modest terms, the theorem says that individual pairs of spacelike separated…
Free motion of a quantum particle with the wave function entirely comprised of plane waves with non-negative momenta may be accompanied by negative probability current, an effect called quantum backflow. The effect is weak and fragile, and…
Why do quantum evolutions occur and why do they stop at certain points? In classical thermodynamics affinity was introduced to predict in which direction an irreversible process proceeds. In this paper the quantum mechanical counterpart of…