Causality| Causality |
In General > s.a. causality
violation; locality; tachyons; time; velocity.
* Idea: Explanations
are given in terms of efficient/physical cause, as opposed to final cause (teleology);
Often associated with predictability;
The
dominant paradigm is the "machine", a deterministically predictive
one, despite setbacks from thermodynamics, special relativity, and quantum
mechanics (Prigogine); Should be modified, according to him, to allow for self-organization
and creation
of
order in non-linear
dissipative systems and non-equilibrium thermodynamics.
* History: Francis Bacon
considered causality as a mechanical relationship, as opposed to an abstract
one.
* Related concepts: Arguments
by design (> see cosmology).
@ General references: Fermi RMP(32);
Margenau PhSc(34);
Bohm 57; Svechnikov 71; Jones AJP(96)RL;
Hunter et al ed-98; Pearl 00; Henson SHPMP(05)qp/04 [principle
of common cause, quantum mechanics]; Hajicek phy/06 [and
liberty]; Dowe & Noordhof 07; Ross & Spurrett BJPS(07)
[notions of cause and Russell]; Butterfield a0708 [stochastic
Einstein locality]; Janzing a0708 [asymmetry
between cause and effect, Occam's razor, and thermodynamics]; Hájícek a0803 [and
freedom of choice].
@ Causation: Ma FdP(00)qp/99-in;
Dowe PhSc(04)
[conserved quantity theory]; Corry PhSc(06) [revision avoiding Bertrand Russell's
arguments].
@ Probabilistic causality: Price BJPS(91);
Twardy & Korb PhSc(04).
@ Other philosophical: Mehlberg IJTP(69)
[vs determinism]; Salmon PhSc(94),
PhSc(97);
Eckhardt SHPMP(06)
[and irreversibility]; Cat PhSc(06)
[fuzzy]; Smith BJPS(07) [relationship between causal dependence and causal laws].
In Classical Theories > s.a. causal
structures; causality conditions; geometry; spacetime
subsets.
* Classical field theory:
Expressed by the support of Green functions or the Kramers-Kronig dispersion
relations,
or vf.
* General relativity:
For matter propagation, built in by the requirement that spacetime satisfy
a causality
condition.
@ General references: Jacobson in(91) [general relativity]; de Souza ht/97,
BJP(02)ht/00,
Bergqvist & Senovilla
CQG(99)gq [field
theory]; Rohrlich AJP(02)
[in electromagnetism and gravity]; Patricot ht/04 [and
symmetries]; Triacca PLA(07)
[Granger causality for stochastic processes]; Bruneton PRD(07)
[k-essence, MOND and other modified theories]; Babichev et al a0708 [k-essence]; > s.a. field
theory.
@ And dispersion relations: Wigner ed; Nussenzveig 71; Fearn & Gibb qp/03.
@ Wave propagation: Bonilla & Senovilla PRL(97) [gravity in vacuum];
Mitchell & Chiao AJP(98) [vg < 0]; > s.a. electromagnetism.
> Related topics: see gauge
choice [causality and gauge in electromagnetism]; gravitating
matter [and speed of sound].
In Quantum Theories > s.a. bell's
theorem; locality;
quantum effects, locality and
measurement; path
integrals.
* In quantum mechanics:
In the operator version it is built in via the unitarity of time evolution;
Quantum
non-locality
is causal because it cannot be used
to transfer classical information across spacelike intervals, and measurements
of entangled
systems cannot be used for superluminal signalling (not true in
non-linear quantum mechanics); But see barrier transmission.
* Relativistic:
Versions include Stochastic Einstein Locality, Reichenbach's Principle of
the Common Cause, and Bell's Local Causality.
* In quantum field theory:
Theorems (notably by Hegerfeldt) show that localized particle states violate
causality;
Microcausality
is the spacelike local commutativity or anticommutativity of fields; > s.a.
quantum locality.
@ In quantum mechanics: Kraus FPL(89)
[no action at a distance]; Stapp AJP(97);
Teufel et al PRA(97)
[hidden variables]; Kent PRD(99)gq/97 [time-neutral
cosmologies]; Westmoreland & Schumacher
qp/98;
Mashkevich qp/98, qp/98;
Suarez qp/98, qp/98, qp/98/PLA;
Cereceda FPL(00)qp [constraints
and EPR]; Srikanth PLA(01)
[entangled systems];
Segev PRA(01)
[phase space formulation]; Simon et al PRL(01)qp [axioms];
Grove FP(02)
[changing the past]; Kent PRA(05)qp/02 [and
non-linear quantum mechanics]; Tommasini JHEP(02)ht [and
statistical interpretation of quantum field theory]; Belavkin RPP(02)qp [trajectories
and information]; Palmer qp/05 [causal
incompleteness and non-locality]; Pegg PLA(06)
[arrow of time]; Norsen a0707 [Bell's
local causality].
@ In relativistic quantum mechanics: Butterfield BJPS(07)
[stochastic Einstein locality], a0708-ISPS.
@ As key to quantum theory: Popescu & Rohrlich qp/97-in
[as axiom]; Wharton qp/03/PRA;
Delphenich qp/04-in.
@ In quantum field theory: Shirokov SPU(78);
Maiani & Testa PLB(95);
Hannibal PLB(96);
Keyl CMP(98)
[and observable algebras]; Kidambi & Widom PLA(99)qp/98,
Widom et al qp/98-in
[QED]; Schroer JPA(99)ht/98,
qp/99-in;
Kostelecky & Lehnert
PRD(01)ht/00 [with
Lorentz and CPT violation]; Tommasini qp/01;
Rédei & Summers
FP(02),
IJTP(07)qp/03-in;
Soloviev TMP(05)mp/06,
Joglekar ht/06-in
[non-local
quantum field theory]; Greenberg PRD(06)
[microcausality from covariance]; Dubovsky et al PRD(08)-a0709 [vs
Lorentz invariance]; Grinstein et al a0805 [as
emergent at macroscopic scales]; Plimak & Stenholm AP(08)
[non-linear quantum-statistical
response of the field]; > s.a. approaches
to
quantum field theory,
phase space approach.
@ In quantum gravity: Kent gq/05 [proposed
test]; Fellman et al a0710-in
[arrow of time and boundary conditions in the early universe].
> Specific types of theories:
see non-commutative field theory; relativistic quantum
mechanics; spin foam.
Action-at-a-Distance Theories > s.a. locality.
* History: The idea
was favored in the 1930s by John Wheeler and Richard Feynman as an alternative
to field theory.
@ General references: & Fokker; Hoyle & Narlikar 74, 96; Hardy CP(98)
[in quantum mechanics]; Sidharth in(99)gq/98.
@ Electrodynamics: Wheeler & Feynman RMP(49);
Hoyle & Narlikar RMP(95); Hollander & De
Luca PRE(03)mp [2-body
problem]; Ibison AP(06).
@ And special relativity: Wigner (71); Medvedev NTF(77);
Louis-Martinez PLB(06)ht/05,
PLA(07)ht/06 [relativistic].
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20 jul 2008