论文标题

Minkowski时空中超光信号传导的不可能不排除因果循环

Impossibility of superluminal signalling in Minkowski space-time does not rule out causal loops

论文作者

Vilasini, V., Colbeck, Roger

论文摘要

因果关系是科学的基础,但它以几种不同的形式出现。一种是相对论因果关系,它与时空结构相关,并禁止未来发出信号。第二个是因果关系的操作概念,它考虑了物理系统和干预措施之间的信息流。在[Vilasini和Colbeck,物理学。 Rev. A. 106,032204(2022)],我们提出了一个框架来表征何时因果模型可以与相对论原理共存,例如无超血症信号传导,同时允许循环和非经典的因果影响以及无信号传递而导致因果关系的可能性。在没有静脉因果关系的理论中,在Minkowski时空中,无法实现超亮信号传导和因果环。在这里,我们证明,如果我们仅禁止超血性信号传导,则可以保持超亮性因果关系,并显示可因果环的数学可能性,而该因果环的数学可能性可以嵌入Minkowski时空,而不会导致超光信号传导。在给定的时空中,这种循环的存在原则上可以使用干预措施在操作上进行操作。这就确定没有静脉信号传导的物理原理本身不足以排除Minkowski时空事件之间的因果环。有趣的是,排除在时空中排除因果循环所需的条件取决于维度。在三个空间维度中是否可能进行这种循环仍然是一个重要的开放问题。

Causality is fundamental to science, but it appears in several different forms. One is relativistic causality, which is tied to a space-time structure and forbids signalling outside the future. A second is an operational notion of causation that considers the flow of information between physical systems and interventions on them. In [Vilasini and Colbeck, Phys. Rev. A. 106, 032204 (2022)], we propose a framework for characterising when a causal model can coexist with relativistic principles such as no superluminal signalling, while allowing for cyclic and non-classical causal influences and the possibility of causation without signalling. In a theory without superluminal causation, both superluminal signalling and causal loops are not possible in Minkowski space-time. Here we demonstrate that if we only forbid superluminal signalling, superluminal causation remains possible and show the mathematical possibility of causal loops that can be embedded in a Minkowski space-time without leading to superluminal signalling. The existence of such loops in the given space-time could in principle be operationally verified using interventions. This establishes that the physical principle of no superluminal signalling is not by itself sufficient to rule out causal loops between Minkowski space-time events. Interestingly, the conditions required to rule out causal loops in a space-time depend on the dimension. Whether such loops are possible in three spatial dimensions remains an important open question.

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