Rethinking causality in quantum mechanics: Doctoral Thesis accepted by The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

Research output: Book/ReportBookpeer-review

Abstract

Causality is central to understanding the mechanisms of nature: some event "A" is the cause of another event “B”. Surprisingly, causality does not follow this simple rule in quantum physics: due to to quantum superposition we might be led to believe that "A causes B” and that "B causes A”. This idea is not only important to the foundations of physics but also leads to practical advantages: a quantum circuit with such indefinite causality performs computationally better than one with definite causality. This thesis provides one of the first comprehensive introductions to quantum causality, and presents a number of advances. It provides an extension and generalization of a framework that enables us to study causality within quantum mechanics, thereby setting the stage for the rest of the work. This comprises: mathematical tools to define causality in terms of probabilities; computational tools to prove indefinite causality in an experiment; means to experimentally test particular causal structures; and finally an algorithm that detects the exact causal structure in an quantum experiment.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationCham
PublisherSpringer, Springer Nature
Number of pages157
ISBN (Electronic)9783030319304
ISBN (Print)9783030319298, 9783030319328
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019
Externally publishedYes

Publication series

NameSpringer Theses: Recognizing Outstanding Ph.D. Research
PublisherSpringer
ISSN (Print)2190-5053
ISSN (Electronic)2190-5061

Keywords

  • Quantum Causality
  • Causality
  • Causal Order
  • Indefinite Causal Order
  • Causal Nonseparability
  • Quantum Switch
  • Noncausal Processes
  • Quantum Causal Discovery
  • Quantum Causal Models

Cite this