Related papers: Background Independence and Quantum Causal Structu…

We propose an exercise in which one attempts to deduce the formalism of quantum mechanics solely from phenomenological observations. The only assumed inputs are the multi-time probability distributions estimated from the results of…

We demonstrate a fundamental relation between the structures of physical space and of quantum theory: the set of quantum correlations in a rotational prepare-and-measure scenario can be derived from covariance alone, without assuming…

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…

We probe the foundations of causal structure inference experimentally. The causal structure concerns which events influence other events. We probe whether causal structure can be determined without intervention in quantum systems.…

Recently, there has been substantial interest in studying the dynamics of quantum theory beyond that of states, in particular, the dynamics of channels, measurements, and higher-order transformations. Ref. [Phys. Rev. X 8(1), 011047 (2018)]…

Causality imposes strong restrictions on the type of operators that may be observables in relativistic quantum theories. In fact, causal violations arise when computing conditional probabilities for certain partial causally connected…

Duality transformations within the quantum mechanics of a finite number of degrees of freedom can be regarded as the dependence of the notion of a quantum, i.e., an elementary excitation of the vacuum, on the observer on classical phase…

The conceptual setting of quantum mechanics is subject to an ongoing debate from its beginnings until now. The consequences of the apparent differences between quantum statistics and classical statistics range from the philosophical…

We pursue the view that quantum theory may be an emergent structure related to large space-time scales. In particular, we consider classical Hamiltonian systems in which the intrinsic proper time evolution parameter is related through a…

Experimental evidene of the last decades has made the status of "collapses of the wave function" even more shaky than it already was on conceptual grounds: interference effects turn out to be detectable even when collapses are typically…

From the ancient Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox to the recent Sorkin-type impossible measurements problem, the contradictions between relativistic causality, quantum non-locality, and quantum measurement have persisted. Based on quantum…

Quantum theory's irreducible empirical core is a probability calculus. While it presupposes the events to which (and on the basis of which) it serves to assign probabilities, and therefore cannot account for their occurrence, it has to be…

We propose an exercise in which one attempts to deduce the formalism of quantum mechanics solely from phenomenological observations. The only assumed inputs are obtained through sequential probing of quantum systems; no presuppositions…

Usual quantum mechanics requires a fixed, background, spacetime geometry and its associated causal structure. A generalization of the usual theory may therefore be needed at the Planck scale for quantum theories of gravity in which…

Precise rules are developed in order to formalize the reasoning processes involved in standard non-relativistic quantum mechanics, with the help of analogies from classical physics. A classical or quantum description of a mechanical system…

Existing work on quantum causal structure assumes that one can perform arbitrary operations on the systems of interest. But this condition is often not met. Here, we extend the framework for quantum causal modelling to situations where a…

Incompatibility between conjugate variables and complementary pictures comes in two kinds, exclusive of one another. The first kind is unconditional, and the second conditional on quantum's indivisibility. We employ this distinction to…

Using arbitrary symplectic structures and parametrization invariant actions, we develop a formalism, based on Dirac's quantization procedure, that allows us to consider theories with both space-space as well as space-time noncommutativity.…

Any canonical quantum theory can be understood to arise from the compatibility of the statistical geometry of distinguishable observations with the canonical Poisson structure of Hamiltonian dynamics. This geometric perspective offers a…

Understanding the core content of quantum mechanics requires us to disentangle the hidden logical relationships between the postulates of this theory. Here we show that the mathematical structure of quantum measurements, the formula for…