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Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Series

2022

Retrocausality

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Physics

Two Roads To Retrocausality, Emily Adlam Oct 2022

Two Roads To Retrocausality, Emily Adlam

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

In recent years the quantum foundations community has seen increasing interest in the possibility of using retrocausality as a route to rejecting the conclusions of Bell’s theorem and restoring locality to quantum physics. On the other hand, it has also been argued that accepting nonlocality leads to a form of retrocausality. In this article we seek to elucidate the relationship between retrocausality and locality. We begin by providing a brief schema of the various ways in which violations of Bell’s inequalities might lead us to consider some form of retrocausality. We then consider some possible motivations for using retrocausality to …


Laws Of Nature As Constraints, Emily Adlam Feb 2022

Laws Of Nature As Constraints, Emily Adlam

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

The laws of nature have come a long way since the time of Newton: quantum mechanics and relativity have given us good reasons to take seriously the possibility of laws which may be non-local, atemporal, ‘all-at-once,’ retrocausal, or in some other way not well-suited to the standard dynamical time evolution paradigm. Laws of this kind can be accommodated within a Humean approach to lawhood, but many extant non-Humean approaches face significant challenges when we try to apply them to laws outside the time evolution picture. Thus for proponents of non-Humean approaches to lawhood there is a clear need for a …