Causal Intuition and Delayed-Choice Experiments

• Main Author: Michael B. Heaney
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-12-01
• Series: Entropy
• Subjects: delayed-choice; causality; retrocausality; advanced action; numerical simulation
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/23/1/23

The conventional explanation of delayed-choice experiments appears to violate our causal intuition at the quantum level. I reanalyze these experiments using time-reversed and time-symmetric formulations of quantum mechanics. The time-reversed formulation does not give the same experimental predictions. The time-symmetric formulation gives the same experimental predictions but actually violates our causal intuition at the quantum level. I explore the reasons why our causal intuition may be wrong at the quantum level, suggest how conventional causation might be recovered in the classical limit, propose a quantum analog to the classical block universe viewpoint, and speculate on implications of the time-symmetric formulation for cosmological boundary conditions.