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In a recent series of works [Ebler et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 120502 (2018); arXiv:1809.06655v2; arXiv:1810.10457v2], it has been proposed that the quantum superposition of causal order -- the quantum switch -- may offer an enhancement of…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2019-06-24 Philippe Allard Guérin , Giulia Rubino , Časlav Brukner

Communication in a network generally takes place through a sequence of intermediate nodes connected by communication channels. In the standard theory of communication, it is assumed that the communication network is embedded in a classical…

Process matrices are a framework to model causal relations in the absence of a well-defined acyclic causal order. The framework is very general and does not even assume the existence of a background spacetime. As a result, it is an open…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2023-04-17 Matthias Salzger

In all our well-established theories, it is assumed that events are embedded in a global causal structure such that, for every pair of events, the causal order between them is always fixed. However, the possible interplay between quantum…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2016-11-22 Flaminia Giacomini , Esteban Castro-Ruiz , Časlav Brukner

Recent developments in the formalisation of quantum causal structures have made it possible to test and compare hypotheses about causal structure empirically, rather than being a-priori assumptions. Such differences in causal structure may…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2026-05-28 Declan Maguire , Fabio Costa

In quantum causality and quantum information, there is a vast landscape of abstract quantum protocols permitting cyclic or non-acyclic causal structures between operations, including frameworks for indefinite causal order and higher-order…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2026-05-12 Matthias Salzger , V. Vilasini

We set the criteria under which superposition of causal order can be incorporated in to quantum walks. In particular, we show that only periodic quantum walks or those with at least one disorder exhibit Superposition of causal order under…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-03-11 Prateek Chawla , Shrikant Utagi , C. M. Chandrashekar

Our common understanding of the physical world deeply relies on the notion that events are ordered with respect to some time parameter, with past events serving as causes for future ones. Nonetheless, it was recently found that it is…

Causal reasoning is essential to science, yet quantum theory challenges it. Quantum correlations violating Bell inequalities defy satisfactory causal explanations within the framework of classical causal models. What is more, a theory…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2021-03-05 Jonathan Barrett , Robin Lorenz , Ognyan Oreshkov

The application of principles of Quantum Mechanics in areas outside of physics has been getting increasing attention in the scientific community in an emergent discipline called Quantum Cognition. These principles have been applied to…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2017-06-20 Catarina Moreira , Andreas Wichert

Quantum theory is consistent with a computational model permitting black-box operations to be applied in an indefinite causal order, going beyond the standard circuit model of computation. The quantum switch -- the simplest such example --…

The notions of events and their localisation fundamentally differ between quantum theory and general relativity, reconciling them becomes even more important and challenging in the context of quantum gravity where a classical spacetime…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-05-29 V. Vilasini , Lin-Qing Chen , Liuhang Ye , Renato Renner

Understanding the causal influences that hold among parts of a system is critical both to explaining that system's natural behaviour and to controlling it through targeted interventions. In a quantum world, understanding causal relations is…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2018-01-22 Jean-Philippe W. MacLean , Katja Ried , Robert W. Spekkens , Kevin J. Resch

It has been shown that it is theoretically possible for there to exist quantum and classical processes in which the operations performed by separate parties do not occur in a well-defined causal order. A central question is whether and how…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2023-06-29 Julian Wechs , Cyril Branciard , Ognyan Oreshkov

In general relativity, `causal structure' refers to the partial order on space-time points (or regions) that encodes time-like relationships. Recently, quantum information and quantum foundations saw the emergence of a `causality…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2017-08-16 Aleks Kissinger , Matty Hoban , Bob Coecke

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 Physics · Physics 2026-03-31 Mohd Asad Siddiqui , Md Qutubuddin , Tabish Qureshi

The quantum switch, the canonical example of a process with indefinite causal order, has been claimed to provide various advantages over processes with definite causal orders for some particular tasks in the field of quantum metrology. In…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2024-06-27 Raphaël Mothe , Cyril Branciard , Alastair A. Abbott

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…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2022-08-05 Emily Adlam

Causal modelling is a tool for generating causal explanations of observed correlations and has led to a deeper understanding of correlations in quantum networks. Existing frameworks for quantum causality tend to focus on acyclic causal…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2024-03-14 V. Vilasini , Roger Colbeck

One can theoretically conceive of processes where the causal order between quantum operations is no longer well-defined. Certain such causally indefinite processes have an operational interpretation in terms of quantum operations on…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2024-11-26 Julian Wechs , Ognyan Oreshkov