Related papers: Correlations and quantum circuits with dynamical c…
It was recently realised that quantum theory allows for so-called causally nonseparable processes, which are incompatible with any definite causal order. This was first suggested on a rather abstract level by the formalism of process…
The standard model of quantum circuits assumes operations are applied in a fixed sequential "causal" order. In recent years, the possibility of relaxing this constraint to obtain causally indefinite computations has received significant…
The ability to identify cause-effect relations is an essential component of the scientific method. The identification of causal relations is generally accomplished through statistical trials where alternative hypotheses are tested against…
The problem of using observed correlations to infer causal relations is relevant to a wide variety of scientific disciplines. Yet given correlations between just two classical variables, it is impossible to determine whether they arose from…
The existence of a global causal order between events places constraints on the correlations that parties may share. Such "causal correlations" have been the focus of recent attention, driven by the realization that some extensions of…
A new approach to quantum gravity is described which joins the loop representation formulation of the canonical theory to the causal set formulation of the path integral. The theory assigns quantum amplitudes to special classes of causal…
For two causal structures with the same set of visible variables, one is said to observationally dominate the other if the set of distributions over the visible variables realizable by the first contains the set of distributions over the…
By studying the set of correlations that are theoretically possible between physical systems without allowing for signalling of information backwards in time, we here identify correlations that can only be achieved if the time ordering…
Computational analysis of time-course data with an underlying causal structure is needed in a variety of domains, including neural spike trains, stock price movements, and gene expression levels. However, it can be challenging to determine…
While the standard formulation of quantum theory assumes a fixed background causal structure, one can relax this assumption within the so-called process matrix framework. Remarkably, some processes, termed causally nonseparable, are…
Reconstructions of quantum theory usually implicitly assume that experimental events are ordered within a global causal structure. The process matrix framework accommodates quantum correlations that violate an inequality verified by all…
A probabilistic model describes a system in its observational state. In many situations, however, we are interested in the system's response under interventions. The class of structural causal models provides a language that allows us to…
We propose an approach to quantum theory based on the energetic causal sets, introduced in Cort\^{e}s and Smolin (2013). Fundamental processes are causal sets whose events carry momentum and energy, which are transmitted along causal links…
The set of correlations between particles in multipartite quantum systems is larger than those in classical systems. Nevertheless, it is subject to restrictions by the underlying quantum theory. In order to better understand the structure…
Starting from certain causality conditions and a discrete form of general covariance, we derive a very general family of classically stochastic, sequential growth dynamics for causal sets. The resulting theories provide a relatively…
Quantum physics is a linear theory, so it is somewhat puzzling that it can underlie very complex systems such as digital computers and life. This paper investigates how this is possible. Physically, such complex systems are necessarily…
We demonstrate the possibility of classifying causal systems into kinds that share a common structure without first constructing an explicit dynamical model or using prior knowledge of the system dynamics. The algorithmic ability to…
Modern approaches to causal modeling give a central role to interventions, which require the active input of an observer and introduces an explicit `causal arrow of time'. Causal models typically adopt a mechanistic interpretation,…
The consistent histories formalism can be used to describe histories comprised of events across many systems, times, and places, plausibly rich enough to describe our experiences of the classical world; however, many consistent history sets…
It is often argued that bottom-up causation under a physicalist, reductionist worldview precludes free will in the libertarian sense. On the one hand, the paradigm of classical mechanics makes determinism inescapable, while on the other,…