A graph-separation theorem for quantum causal models

Autor(en)

Jacques Pienaar, Caslav Brukner

Abstrakt

A causal model is an abstract representation of a physical system as a directed acyclic graph (DAG), where the statistical dependencies are encoded using a graphical criterion called 'd-separation'. Recent work by Wood and Spekkens shows that causal models cannot, in general, provide a faithful representation of quantum systems. Since d-separation encodes a form of Reichenbach's common cause principle (RCCP), whose validity is questionable in quantum mechanics, we propose a generalized graph separation rule that does not assume the RCCP. We prove that the new rule faithfully captures the statistical dependencies between observables in a quantum network, encoded as a DAG, and reduces to d-separation in a classical limit.

Organisation(en)

Quantenoptik, Quantennanophysik und Quanteninformation

Externe Organisation(en)

Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (ÖAW)

Journal

New Journal of Physics

Band

17

Anzahl der Seiten

25

ISSN

1367-2630

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/17/7/073020

Publikationsdatum

07-2015

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

103025 Quantenmechanik

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Allgemeine Physik und Astronomie

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/a27fb449-5063-4254-8b91-01012c5f03ac