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.

Wave-particle duality has become one of the flagships of quantum mechanics. This counterintuitive concept is highlighted in a delayed-choice experiment, where the experimental setup that reveals either the particle or wave nature of a quantum system is decided after the system has entered the apparatus. Here we consider delayed-choice experiments from the perspective of device-independent causal models and show their equivalence to a prepare-and-measure scenario. Within this framework, we consider Wheeler's original proposal and its variant using a quantum control and show that a simple classical causal model is capable of reproducing the quantum mechanical predictions. Nonetheless, among other results, we show that, in a slight variant of Wheeler's gedanken experiment, a photon in an interferometer can indeed generate statistics incompatible with any nonretrocausal hidden variable model, whose dimensionality is the same as that of the quantum system it is supposed to mimic. Our proposal tolerates arbitrary losses and inefficiencies, making it specially suited to loophole-free experimental implementations.

Models of quantum systems on curved space-times lack sufficient experimental verification. Some speculative theories suggest that quantum correlations, such as entanglement, may exhibit different behavior to purely classical correlations in curved space. By measuring this effect or lack thereof, we can test the hypotheses behind several such models. For instance, as predicted by Ralph et al [5] and Ralph and Pienaar [1], a bipartite entangled system could decohere if each particle traversed through a different gravitational field gradient. We propose to study this effect in a ground to space uplink scenario. We extend the above theoretical predictions of Ralph and coworkers and discuss the scientific consequences of detecting/failing to detect the predicted gravitational decoherence. We present a detailed mission design of the European Space Agency's Space QUEST (Space-Quantum Entanglement Space Test) mission, and study the feasibility of the mission scheme.

The event formalism is a nonlinear extension of quantum field theory designed to be compatible with the closed time-like curves that appear in general relativity. Whilst reducing to standard quantum field theory in flat space-time the formalism leads to testably different predictions for entanglement distribution in curved space. In this paper we introduce a more general version of the formalism and use it to analyse the practicality of an experimental test of its predictions in the Earthʼs gravitational well.

A causal scenario is a graph that describes the cause and effect relationships between all relevant variables in an experiment. A scenario is deemed 'not interesting' if there is no device-independent way to distinguish the predictions of classical physics from any generalised probabilistic theory (including quantum mechanics). Conversely, an interesting scenario is one in which there exists a gap between the predictions of different operational probabilistic theories, as occurs for example in Belltype experiments. Henson, Lal and Pusey (HLP) recently proposed a sufficient condition for a causal scenario to not be interesting. In this paper we supplement their analysis with some new techniques and results. We first show that existing graphical techniques due to Evans can be used to confirm by inspection that many graphs are interesting without having to explicitly search for inequality violations. For three exceptional cases-the graphs numbered #15, 16, 20 in HLP-we show that there exist non-Shannon type entropic inequalities that imply these graphs are interesting. In doing so, we find that existing methods of entropic inequalities can be greatly enhanced by conditioning on the specific values of certain variables. then we say that the observed phenomenon can be explained by the model. Hypothesis testing then becomes the work of designing experiments to rule out different competing explanations.The literature on causal inference provides numerous tools for deciding when one causal model is a better explanation than another. In general, simpler explanations are preferable to more complex ones. Explanations should be faithful, meaning (roughly) that the observed independencies appear in almost all causal models that have the same causal structure as the chosen explanation. If these principles are not enough to differentiate different hypotheses, it is always possible to do so by performing experimental interventions: actively changing the values of some variables and observing the reaction of the remaining variables. A tool of causal inference called the do-calculus tells us which interventions are needed to obtain specific information about the causal structure.The question arises as to whether certain experiments in quantum physics, particularly the so-called 'Belltype' experiments [4-6], can be explained by a causal model. It is widely agreed that any explanation of quantum phenomena in terms of a classical causal model must violate at least one of several assumptions that hold for purely classical phenomena. For example, a classical causal model can explain quantum phenomena if we allow causes to propagate faster than light, as in Bohmian mechanics [7], or if we allow measurement settings to be influenced by a hidden common cause (the super-determinism loophole), and there are many other options. A more recent perspective due to Wood and Spekkens is that classical causal explanations of quantum experiments cannot be faithful [8], i.e. the causal model is not a generic example of the set of models that share it...

Toy models for quantum evolution in the presence of closed timelike curves (CTCs) have gained attention in the recent literature due to the strange effects they predict. The circuits that give rise to these effects appear quite abstract and contrived, as they require non-trivial interactions between the future and past which lead to infinitely recursive equations. We consider the special case in which there is no interaction inside the CTC, referred to as an open timelike curve (OTC), for which the only local effect is to increase the time elapsed by a clock carried by the system. Remarkably, circuits with access to OTCs are shown to violate Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, allowing perfect state discrimination and perfect cloning of coherent states. The model is extended to wave-packets and smoothly recovers standard quantum mechanics in an appropriate physical limit. The analogy with general relativistic time-dilation suggests that OTCs provide a novel alternative to existing proposals for the behaviour of quantum systems under gravity.

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The unification of the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics is a long-standing challenge in contemporary physics. Experimental techniques in quantum optics have only recently reached the maturity required for the investigation of quantum systems under the influence of non-inertial motion, such as being held at rest in gravitational fields, or subjected to uniform accelerations. Here, we report on experiments in which a genuine quantum state of an entangled photon pair is exposed to a series of different accelerations. We measure an entanglement witness for g-values ranging from 30 mg to up to 30 g—under free-fall as well on a spinning centrifuge—and have thus derived an upper bound on the effects of uniform acceleration on photonic entanglement.