Getting formal about quantum mechanics' lack of causality

March 29, 2026
Getting formal about quantum mechanics' lack of causality

Here's something that caught my attention — quantum physics might not care about cause and effect the way we do. A decade ago, I brushed past an experiment where entangled photons seemed to influence each other across time, as if measuring one could retroactively change the other. According to John Timmer writing in Technology, scientists have since designed experiments that suggest we can even create superpositions of different sequences of events — making it fuzzy whether A or B came first. Now, this isn’t just academic mumbo jumbo; it challenges our core understanding of causality itself. What Timmer points out is that these experiments, while not perfect yet, could eventually strip away all loopholes — meaning we might have to rethink how cause-and-effect work at the quantum level. So, the big takeaway? The universe might be more flexible — less about strict chains of cause and effect — and that opens up all kinds of wild possibilities for physics and tech down the line.

Over a decade ago, when I was first starting to pretend I could write about quantum mechanics, I covered a truly bizarre experiment. One half of a pair of entangled photons was sent through a device it could navigate as either a particle or a wave. After it was clear of the device, the other half of the pair was measured in a way that forced the first to act as one or the other. Once that was done, the first invariably behaved as if it were whatever the measurement made it into the whole time.

It was as if the measurement had reached backward in time to alter the photon's behavior, raising questions about whether causality itself actually applied to quantum mechanics.

Unbeknownst to me, physicists have been asking the same question and have designed experiments to probe it in detail. A few weeks back, they provided an experiment that seems to indicate it's possible to create quantum superpositions of two different series of events, essentially making the question of whether A or B happened first a matter of probability*. While the current experiment leaves a few loopholes, the researchers behind the work think they could ultimately be eliminated.

Read full article

Comments

Audio Transcript

Over a decade ago, when I was first starting to pretend I could write about quantum mechanics, I covered a truly bizarre experiment. One half of a pair of entangled photons was sent through a device it could navigate as either a particle or a wave. After it was clear of the device, the other half of the pair was measured in a way that forced the first to act as one or the other. Once that was done, the first invariably behaved as if it were whatever the measurement made it into the whole time.

It was as if the measurement had reached backward in time to alter the photon's behavior, raising questions about whether causality itself actually applied to quantum mechanics.

Unbeknownst to me, physicists have been asking the same question and have designed experiments to probe it in detail. A few weeks back, they provided an experiment that seems to indicate it's possible to create quantum superpositions of two different series of events, essentially making the question of whether A or B happened first a matter of probability*. While the current experiment leaves a few loopholes, the researchers behind the work think they could ultimately be eliminated.

Read full article

Comments

0:00/0:00
Getting formal about quantum mechanics' lack of causality | Speasy