Abstract Quantum theory implies, and empirical evidence confirms, that while particles can exhibit wave-like behavior in interferometric experiments, this behavior is so limited as not to allow for third- and higher-order interference. The article at hand shows that this possibility-impossibility structure suggests the universal validity of a principle that regulates statistical correlations between spatiotemporally localized events, independently of the nature of the objects that may or may not partake in these events. Roughly, and up to some qualifications, the said principle mandates that any joint influence of m mutually spacelike separated events on another event, be such, that it can be separated by at least $$\lceil \frac{m}{2} \rceil$$ mediating events, and in some cases, by no more than $$\lceil \frac{m}{2} \rceil$$ mediating events. The structure of quantum interference thus teaches us that events can influence each other in a non-separable fashion, but that this non-separability has a certain exactly quantifiable limit.
Abstract Quantum theory implies, and empirical evidence confirms, that while particles can exhibit wave-like behavior in interferometric experiments, this behavior is so limited as not to allow for third- and higher-order interference. The article at hand shows that this possibility-impossibility structure suggests the universal validity of a principle that regulates statistical correlations between spatiotemporally localized events, independently of the nature of the objects that may or may not partake in these events. Roughly, and up to some qualifications, the said principle mandates that any joint influence of m mutually spacelike separated events on another event, be such, that it can be separated by at least ⌈2m⌉ mediating events, and in some cases, by no more than ⌈2m⌉ mediating events. The structure of quantum interference thus teaches us that events can influence each other in a non-separable fashion, but that this non-separability has a certain exactly quantifiable limit.
The idea that events are equipped with a partial causal order is central to our understanding of physics in the tested regimes: given two pointlike events A and B , either A is in the causal past of B , B is in the causal past of A , or A and B are space-like separated. Operationally, the meaning of these order relations corresponds to constraints on the possible correlations between experiments performed in the vicinities of the respective events: if A is in the causal past of B , an experimenter at A could signal to an experimenter at B but not the other way around, while if A and B are space-like separated, no signaling is possible in either direction. In the context of a concrete physical theory, the correlations compatible with a given causal configuration may obey further constraints. For instance, space-like correlations in quantum mechanics arise from local measurements on joint quantum states, while time-like correlations are established via quantum channels. Similarly to other variables, however, the causal order of a set of events could be random, and little is understood about the constraints that causality implies in this case. A main difficulty concerns the fact that the order of events can now generally depend on the operations performed at the locations of these events, since, for instance, an operation at A could influence the order in which B and C occur in A ’s future. So far, no formal theory of causality compatible with such dynamical causal order has been developed. Apart from being of fundamental interest in the context of inferring causal relations, such a theory is imperative for understanding recent suggestions that the causal order of events in quantum mechanics can be indefinite. Here, we develop such a theory in the general multipartite case. Starting from a background-independent definition of causality, we derive an iteratively formulated canonical decomposition of multipartite causal correlations. For a fixed number of settings and outcomes for each party, these correlations form a polytope whose facets define causal inequalities. The case of quantum correlations in this paradigm is captured by the process matrix formalism. We investigate the link between causality and the closely related notion of causal separability of quantum processes, which we here define rigorously in analogy with the link between Bell locality and separability of quantum states. We show that causality and causal separability are not equivalent in general by giving an example of a physically admissible tripartite quantum process that is causal but not causally separable. We also show that there are causally separable quantum processes that become non-causal if extended by supplying the parties with entangled ancillas. This motivates the concepts of extensibly causal and extensibly causally separable (ECS) processes, for which the respective property remains invariant under extension. We characterize the class of ECS quantum processes in the tripartite case via simple conditions on the form of the process matrix. We show that the processes realizable by classically controlled quantum circuits are ECS and conjecture that the reverse also holds.
This article is the third of a trilogy of articles on the nature of probability in quantum mechanics. The first article [1] began by noting that superposed wavefunctions in quantum mechanics lead to a squared amplitude that introduces interference into the position probability density of an atomic particle, which happens nowhere else in probability theory. It went on to also note that there is an unexplained coincidence in quantum mechanics in that the interference term in the squared amplitude of superposed wavefunctions gives the squared amplitude the form of a variance of a sum of correlated random variables and went on to examine whether there could be an archetypical variable, in the Platonic sense of true form, behind quantum probability that would reconcile quantum probability with classic probability. This examination found such a variable, which can encompass both local and nonlocal quantum events. The second article [2] provided evidence that quantum probability has such a stochastic nature. This evidence was based on the number of electrons that need to be sent through a two-slit interferometer to gain a clear pattern of self-interference, which when compared with the number that would be expected to be sufficient in order for the position probability distribution of the self-interference wavefunction to take clear shape suggests that there is more variability present than that described by the formulation of quantum mechanics, which implies the presence of an underlying and as yet unrecognized physical process. This final article completes the trilogy by considering how a key aspect of experimental design would be affected by the increased variability that would be present if quantum probability is itself stochastic in the manner suggested in the previous two articles.
Bell-type experiments confront us with a threefold demand: any satisfactory account must preserve Bell-inequality violation, operational no-signalling, and consistency with relativistic causal structure. Standard discussions often treat this situation as if it required a physically meaningful transit time for a collapse-like influence between spacelike separated measurement events. In this paper, I argue that this presupposition is false. Working within Sequential Time Theory (STT), I formulate admissibility conditions for temporal variables in Bell configurations and prove that no state-independent and foliation-independent calibration map exists that could define a physical collapse-transit time between spacelike separated local record-completion events. The quantity required to define a collapse speed is therefore not extremely small; it is non-constructible. To establish this result, I reconstruct a Bell experiment as a partially ordered record structure consisting of source events, local record events at each wing, and later comparison events. Local measurements are represented by compatible instruments on admissible hypersurface descriptions. I then show that Bell-inequality violation and operational no-signalling remain fully intact without any admissible collapse-transit variable. What is eliminated is not the empirical Bell phenomenon, but only the pseudo-variable that would redescribe a correlation structure as though it were a directed transport process between the two wings. The resulting claim is narrower than a complete relativistic theory of quantum measurement, but stronger than a merely interpretive remark. The paper yields a theorem-level boundary condition on future measurement theory: any successful extension may model local detector dynamics, irreversible amplification, delayed recording, or moving-frame configurations, but it must not reintroduce a state-independent and foliation-independent collapse-transit time between spacelike separated local record-completion events. In STT terms, Bell nonlocality does not force superluminal propagation; it forces the abandonment of an inadmissible temporal variable.
The existence of higher than pairwise quantum interference in the set-up, in which there are more than two slits, is currently under experimental investigation. However, it is still unclear what the confirmation of existence of such interference would mean for quantum theory -- whether that usual quantum mechanics is merely a limiting case of some more general theory or whether that some assumption of quantum theory taken as a fundamental one does not actually hold true. The present paper tries to understand why quantum theory is limited only to a certain kind of interference.
This article develops an expanded critical-propositional analysis of B. Hensen et al.’s 2015 experiment, “Loophole-free Bell inequality violation using electron spins separated by 1.3 kilometres,” published in Nature, in systematic dialogue with the Theory of Objectivity (TO) developed by Vidamor Cabannas and Denivaldo Silva. Hensen et al. implemented an event-ready Bell experiment using electron spins associated with nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond, spatially separated by approximately 1.3 km. Remote spin entanglement was heralded through optical interference and photon detection at an intermediate station. Efficient spin readout addressed the detection loophole, while rapid random basis selection, spacelike separation, and controlled timing addressed the locality loophole. Across 245 valid trials, the experiment obtained a CHSH parameter S = 2.42 ± 0.20, exceeding the local-realistic bound S ≤ 2, with a reported null-hypothesis probability p ≤ 0.039 under the statistical assumptions adopted by the authors (Hensen et al., 2015). The experiment is especially relevant to the TO because it combines individuality of physical systems, magnetic spin degrees of freedom, electromagnetic manipulation, atomic-scale radiation, physically encoded information, boundaries, interfaces, non- anthropocentric measurement, relationality, and long-distance quantum correlations within one experimental architecture. The analysis therefore investigates possible compatibility between Hensen et al. and the Seven Absolute Truths of the TO, with particular attention to Absolute Truth Two, concerning the individualizing field of every element; Absolute Truth Five, according to which an element requires observation or frequency relation with at least two other elements for logical existence; and Absolute Truth Seven, here interpreted through the TO proposition that the transcendent element consists of knowledge or information produced in atomic relations and is equivalent to atomic radiation. The analysis finds substantial conceptual and operational compatibility, especially regarding non-anthropocentric observation, relational constitution, information-bearing radiation, physical boundaries, and the inadequacy of a naive ontology of mutually independent local properties. However, the Hensen experiment does not establish the modal necessity of the TO axioms, does not demonstrate that every existing element possesses the unique magnetic field specified by Absolute Truth Two, does not prove the exact two-observer structure claimed by Absolute Truth Five, and does not establish an ontological identity between information and radiation. Moreover, any formulation of the TO that attempted to reproduce Bell correlations through purely local, predetermined hidden variables satisfying Bell factorability would face direct experimental tension. The article consequently proposes a methodological distinction between modal necessity, ontological interpretation, operational bridge, quantitative prediction, and empirical corroboration. It further proposes a Bell–TO research program in which the individual fields, Inducing Effects, relational observation, and transcendent informational element of the TO would be assigned explicit mathematical variables from which a predicted CHSH parameter STO could be derived. Such formalization would move the relation between Bell physics and the TO from philosophical compatibility toward genuine empirical discrimination. Keywords: Theory of Objectivity; Bell inequality; Hensen experiment; quantum nonlocality; electron spin; entanglement; relational ontology; information; atomic radiation; modal necessity; objectivity; CHSH; empirical corroboration.
This article develops an expanded critical–propositional analysis of Rupert Ursin and collaborators’ experiment, “Entanglement-Based Quantum Communication over 144 km,” published in Nature Physics in 2007, in systematic dialogue with the Theory of Objectivity (TO) developed by Vidamor Cabannas and Denivaldo Silva. Ursin et al. experimentally demonstrated entanglement-based quantum communication through a free-space optical link of approximately 144 km between the Canary Islands of La Palma and Tenerife. Among the principal results, the authors reported a Clauser– Horne–Shimony–Holt Bell parameter of S = 2.508 ± 0.037, obtained from 7,058 coincidence events accumulated during 221 seconds, cor- responding to a violation of the local CHSH bound by more than thirteen standard deviations. The same experimental infrastructure was also employed for entanglement- based quantum key distribution, thereby converting experimentally accessible photon correlations into operational information. The purpose of the present study is not to claim that Ursin et al. experimentally proved the Theory of Objectivity. Instead, three epistemological levels are explicitly distinguished: empirical confirmation of quantum phenomena within contemporary physics; structural or conceptual compatibility between such phenomena and the modal vocabulary of TO; and specific empirical confirmation of predictions uniquely or discriminatively derived from TO. This distinction is indispensable because the Ursin experiment predates the published foundational TO literature and therefore cannot constitute a prospective experimental prediction of that theory. The strongest dialogue is identified with the Fifth Absolute Truth, according to which an element requires relational observation or inclusion within the frequency of at least two other elements in order to acquire logical existence, where “observation” is understood as objective physical relation rather than human consciousness. The experimental structure of Ursin et al. is profoundly relational: entangled photons are jointly generated, spatially separated, locally interrogated by physical devices, converted into detector events, temporally registered, and finally identified through correlations among physical records. The experiment therefore provides a significant operational analogue for relational objectivity, while it does not prove the stronger modal assertion that precisely two external relations constitute a universal ontological minimum for existence. A second major area of dialogue concerns the TO concept of the transcendent element. In TO, knowledge or information produced through atomic relations is re- garded as transcendent and is associated with atomic radiation. Ursin et al. empirically display a physical sequence in which electromagnetic radiation carries quantum de- grees of freedom, relations between distant measurement results become experimentally accessible correlations, and these correlations are subsequently converted into crypto- graphically useful information. Nevertheless, standard quantum information theory does not thereby identify information ontologically with radiation. The experiment therefore supports a radiation–relation–information bridge while leaving the stronger TO ontological identity thesis unconfirmed. The analysis also examines the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Sixth, and Seventh Absolute Truths; the phenomenic elements; Inductive Effects; the TO cosmogonic theorem; and the cosmological Eras. Particular attention is paid to conceptual tensions. Ursin et al. do not investigate primordial Nothingness, do not test Infinity as a non- element, do not measure an exclusive magnetic aura individually belonging to each photon, and do not provide evidence for the TO cosmological Eras. Moreover, Bell nonlocality must not be confused with controllable superluminal communication. The article concludes that Ursin et al. constitute an important independent ret- rospective empirical interlocutor for TO, especially with respect to relational objectivity, boundaries, composition, and the transformation of radiation-mediated correlations into information. The central scientific challenge for TO is to convert these conceptual correspondences into quantitatively defined operational bridges capable of producing experimentally discriminating predictions. Keywords: Theory of Objectivity; quantum entanglement; Ursin; Bell inequality; CHSH; quantum communication; quantum information; relational observation; modal necessity; radiation; information; Inductive Effects; quantum nonlocality; physical boundaries; empirical corroboration.