Tsirelson bounds for quantum correlations with indefinite causal order
Quantum theory is in principle compatible with processes that violate causal inequalities, an analogue of Bell inequalities that constrain the correlations observed by sets of parties operating in a definite causal order. Since the introduction of causal inequalities, determining their maximum quantum violation, analogue to Tsirelson's bound for Bell inequalities, has remained an open problem. Here we provide a general method for bounding the violation of arbitrary causal inequalities, establishing limits to the correlations achievable by arbitrary local experiments and by arbitrary quantum processes with indefinite causal order. We prove that the maximum violation is generally smaller than the algebraic maximum of the corresponding correlation, and determine Tsirelson-like bounds for a class of causal inequalities including some of the most paradigmatic examples. Our results motivate a search for physical principles characterizing the boundary of the set of quantum correlations with indefinite causal order.
Authors
- Giulio Chiribella (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1339-0656)
- Zixuan Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4728-4149)
Institutions
- Université Libre de Bruxelles (BE)
- Perimeter Institute (CA)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- University of Hong Kong (HK)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-04-07
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58508-9
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Quantum Mechanics and Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.74
Funders
- John Templeton Foundation
- Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
- Government of Canada
- Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRS
- Institut Périmètre de physique théorique