Price, Huw (2011) Does Time-Symmetry Imply Retrocausality? How the Quantum World Says "Maybe". [Preprint]

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Abstract

It has often been suggested that retrocausality offers a solution to some of the puzzles of quantum mechanics: e.g., that it allows a Lorentz-invariant explanation of Bell correlations, and other manifestations of quantum nonlocality, without action-at-a-distance. Some writers have argued that time-symmetry counts in favour of such a view, in the sense that retrocausality would be a natural consequence of a truly time-symmetric theory of the quantum world. Critics object that there is complete time-symmetry in classical physics, and yet no apparent retrocausality. Why should the quantum world be any different? This note throws some new light on these matters. I call attention to a respect in which quantum mechanics is different, under some assumptions about quantum ontology. Under these assumptions, the combination of time-symmetry without retrocausality is unavailable in quantum mechanics, for reasons intimately connected with the differences between classical and quantum physics (especially the role of discreteness in the latter). Not all interpretations of quantum mechanics share these assumptions, however, and in those that do not, time-symmetry does not entail retrocausality.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Price, Huw
Keywords:	Quantum mechanics, retrocausality, time-symmetry
Subjects:	General Issues > Causation Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Depositing User:	Prof Huw Price
Date Deposited:	05 Nov 2011 13:03
Last Modified:	05 Nov 2011 13:03
Item ID:	8879
Subjects:	General Issues > Causation Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Date:	19 October 2011
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/8879

Available Versions of this Item

• Time-symmetry without retrocausality: how the quantum can withhold the solace. (deposited 26 Jan 2010)
  • Does Time-Symmetry Imply Retrocausality? How the Quantum World Says "Maybe". (deposited 05 Nov 2011 13:03) [Currently Displayed]

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