Related papers: Causality and the Doppler Peaks
How unique are the inflationary predictions for the cosmic microwave anisotropy pattern? In this paper, it is asked whether an arbitrary causal source for perturbations in the standard hot big bang could effectively mimic the predictions of…
Doppler peaks in the cosmic microwave background may allow us to distinguish among the two classes of theories-inflationary models and topological defect scenarios-which attempt to explain the origin of structure formation in the universe.…
We compute the angular power spectrum of temperature anisotropies on the microwave sky in the cosmic texture theory, with standard recombination assumed. The spectrum shows `Doppler' peaks analogous to those in scenarios based on primordial…
Over the past two decades, the rapid surge in data-intensive computational techniques for statistical modeling may have had the effect of diminishing the use of applied mathematics in causal scientific inquiry. In this paper, co-authored by…
In the context of inflationary models with a pre-inflationary stage, in which the Einstein equations are obeyed, the weak energy condition is satisfied, and spacetime topology is trivial, we argue that homogeneity on super-Hubble scales…
Causal structures give us a way to understand the origin of observed correlations. These were developed for classical scenarios, but quantum mechanical experiments necessitate their generalisation. Here we study causal structures in a broad…
The concept of causality has a controversial history. The question of whether it is possible to represent and address causal problems with probability theory, or if fundamentally new mathematics such as the do-calculus is required has been…
Causality is a seminal concept in science: Any research discipline, from sociology and medicine to physics and chemistry, aims at understanding the causes that could explain the correlations observed among some measured variables. While…
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…
The constraints arising for a general set of causal relations, both classically and quantumly, are still poorly understood. As a step in exploring this question, we consider a coherently controlled superposition of "direct-cause" and…
We propose a new definition of actual causes, using structural equations to model counterfactuals.We show that the definitions yield a plausible and elegant account ofcausation that handles well examples which have caused problems forother…
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…
A Universe with finite age also has a finite causal scale. Larger scales can not affect our local measurements or modeling, but far away locations could have different cosmological parameters. The size of our causal Universe depends on the…
Recent research has severely constrained the standard ``defect'' models of cosmic structure formation. Here I discuss the nature of the problems with defect models, and place this discussion in the context of the big picture of cosmic…
We start from the well-known form of the interval of the special relativity, stare it, and build up an attempt to implement the causality from it. Some features appear to be new, they involve the mass of the particle and the structure of…
The concept of causality has a controversial history. The question of whether it is possible to represent and address causal problems with probability theory, or if fundamentally new mathematics such as the do calculus is required has been…
The advent of molecular biology has led to the identification of definitive causative factors for a number of diseases, most of which are monogenic. Causes for most common diseases across the population, however, seem elusive and cannot be…
The standard model of large scale structure is considered, in which the structure originates as a Gaussian adiabatic density perturbation with a nearly scale invariant spectrum. The basic theoretical tool of cosmological perturbation theory…
Causal models defined in terms of structural equations have proved to be quite a powerful way of representing knowledge regarding causality. However, a number of authors have given examples that seem to show that the Halpern-Pearl (HP)…
Perhaps the most prominent current definition of (actual) causality is due to Halpern and Pearl. It is defined using causal models (also known as structural equations models). We abstract the definition, extracting its key features, so that…