Classical Causal Models for Bell and Kochen-Specker Inequality Violations Require Fine-Tuning

Nonlocality and contextuality are at the root of conceptual puzzles in quantum mechanics, and are key resources for quantum advantage in information-processing tasks. Bell nonlocality is best understood as the incompatibility between quantum correlations and the classical theory of causality, applied to relativistic causal structure. Contextuality, on the other hand, is on a more controversial foundation. In this work, I provide a common conceptual ground between nonlocality and contextuality as violations of classical causality. First, I show that Bell inequalities can be derived solely from the assumptions of no-signalling and no-fine-tuning of the causal model. This removes two extra assumptions from a recent result from Wood and Spekkens, and remarkably, does not require any assumption related to independence of measurement settings -- unlike all other derivations of Bell inequalities. As a consequence, it can be applied to contextuality scenarios: all causal models for violations of a Kochen-Specker-contextuality inequality require fine-tuning. Thus the quantum violation of classical causality goes beyond the case of space-like separated systems, and manifests already in scenarios involving single systems.

[1]  C. J. Wood,et al.  The lesson of causal discovery algorithms for quantum correlations: causal explanations of Bell-inequality violations require fine-tuning , 2012, 1208.4119.

[2]  A. Winter,et al.  Graph-theoretic approach to quantum correlations. , 2014, Physical review letters.

[3]  H. Wiseman,et al.  The two Bellʼs theorems of John Bell , 2014, 1402.0351.

[4]  J. Aron About Hidden Variables , 1969 .

[5]  A Zeilinger,et al.  Hidden-variable theorems for real experiments. , 2001, Physical review letters.

[6]  S. Wehner,et al.  Bell Nonlocality , 2013, 1303.2849.

[7]  Fabio Costa,et al.  Quantum causal modelling , 2015, 1512.07106.

[8]  M. A. Can,et al.  Simple test for hidden variables in spin-1 systems. , 2007, Physical review letters.

[9]  A. Cabello Experimentally testable state-independent quantum contextuality. , 2008, Physical review letters.

[10]  R. Spekkens,et al.  Quantum common causes and quantum causal models , 2016, 1609.09487.

[11]  L. Elton,et al.  THE DIRECTION OF TIME , 1978 .

[12]  Eric G. Cavalcanti,et al.  On modifications of Reichenbachʼs principle of common cause in light of Bellʼs theorem , 2013, 1311.6852.

[13]  Victor Veitch,et al.  Contextuality Supplies the Magic for Quantum Computation , 2015, 2015 IEEE International Symposium on Multiple-Valued Logic.

[14]  E. Cavalcanti Bell's theorem and the measurement problem: reducing two mysteries to one? , 2016, 1602.07404.

[15]  J. Pearl Causality: Models, Reasoning and Inference , 2000 .

[16]  E. Specker,et al.  The Problem of Hidden Variables in Quantum Mechanics , 1967 .

[17]  A. Fine Hidden Variables, Joint Probability, and the Bell Inequalities , 1982 .

[18]  Samson Abramsky,et al.  The sheaf-theoretic structure of non-locality and contextuality , 2011, 1102.0264.

[19]  Č. Brukner,et al.  A graph-separation theorem for quantum causal models , 2014, 1406.0430.

[20]  Moritz Grosse-Wentrup,et al.  Quantifying causal influences , 2012, 1203.6502.

[21]  Adrian Kent,et al.  Non-contextuality, finite precision measurement and the Kochen-Specker theorem , 2003 .

[22]  R. Spekkens,et al.  Specker’s parable of the overprotective seer: A road to contextuality, nonlocality and complementarity , 2010 .

[23]  D. Dürr,et al.  Quantum equilibrium and the origin of absolute uncertainty , 1992, quant-ph/0308039.

[24]  R. Spekkens Contextuality for preparations, transformations, and unsharp measurements , 2004, quant-ph/0406166.

[25]  Samson Abramsky,et al.  Logical Bell Inequalities , 2012, ArXiv.

[26]  Robert W. Spekkens,et al.  What is the appropriate notion of noncontextuality for unsharp measurements in quantum theory , 2013 .

[27]  Matthew F Pusey,et al.  Theory-independent limits on correlations from generalized Bayesian networks , 2014, 1405.2572.

[28]  R. Mcweeny On the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Paradox , 2000 .

[29]  Christian Majenz,et al.  Information–theoretic implications of quantum causal structures , 2014, Nature Communications.

[30]  Jan-Ake Larsson A Kochen-Specker inequality , 2002 .

[31]  T. Fritz,et al.  A Combinatorial Approach to Nonlocality and Contextuality , 2012, Communications in Mathematical Physics.

[32]  R Chaves,et al.  Unifying framework for relaxations of the causal assumptions in Bell's theorem. , 2014, Physical review letters.

[33]  R. W. Spekkens Contextuality for preparations, transformations, and unsharp measurements (17 pages) , 2005 .

[34]  Thomas Lawson,et al.  Biased nonlocal quantum games , 2010, 1011.6245.

[35]  Ingemar Bengtsson,et al.  A Kochen–Specker inequality from a SIC , 2011, 1109.6514.

[36]  I. Pitowsky Quantum Probability ― Quantum Logic , 1989 .