Bell’s theorem for temporal order

Magdalena Zych (), Fabio Costa, Igor Pikovski and Časlav Brukner
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Magdalena Zych: The University of Queensland
Fabio Costa: The University of Queensland
Igor Pikovski: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Časlav Brukner: University of Vienna

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Time has a fundamentally different character in quantum mechanics and in general relativity. In quantum theory events unfold in a fixed order while in general relativity temporal order is influenced by the distribution of matter. When matter requires a quantum description, temporal order is expected to become non-classical—a scenario beyond the scope of current theories. Here we provide a direct description of such a scenario. We consider a thought experiment with a massive body in a spatial superposition and show how it leads to entanglement of temporal orders between time-like events. This entanglement enables accomplishing a task, violation of a Bell inequality, that is impossible under local classical temporal order; it means that temporal order cannot be described by any pre-defined local variables. A classical notion of a causal structure is therefore untenable in any framework compatible with the basic principles of quantum mechanics and classical general relativity.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11579-x

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