Published October 23, 2025 | Version v1
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A Causal Symmetry Approach to Quantum Nonlocality and Information

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Description

A Time-Symmetric Informational Framework for Quantum Mechanics

This paper develops a causal-symmetry formulation of quantum mechanics, in which both the initial and final boundary conditions jointly determine physical evolution. The framework introduces a single, measurable informational coupling κ (kappa) that quantifies temporal boundary alignment and generates a completely positive trace-preserving (CPTP) semigroup with a unique informational equilibrium.

The model replaces the standard unidirectional time evolution with an informational relaxation process, driving any quantum state toward its boundary-aligned configuration. The evolution law can be expressed conceptually as:

rate of change of ρ = –κ × (ρ – σ_Z),
where σ_Z denotes the final boundary state, and 1/κ defines the characteristic timescale of equilibration.

Key Contributions

  • • Derivation of κ from mutual information and entropy balance — establishing a quantitative bridge between statistical irreversibility and informational thermodynamics.
  • • Full mathematical consistency — complete positivity, trace preservation, and no-signaling for bipartite systems, with an explicit GKSL generator and stationary state σ_Z.
  • • Generalized Second Law in informational form — monotonic decay of the relative entropy D(ρ ∥ σ_Z), yielding a Landauer-consistent inequality (ΔQ ≥ k_B T ΔS_info).
  • • Physical interpretation — standard quantum mechanics is recovered in the limit κ → 0, while nonzero κ introduces measurable informational feedback between temporal boundaries.
  • • Experimental testability — a delayed-choice quantum random number generator (QRNG) with realistic parameters (η ≈ 0.9, n ≥ 10⁶) offers 3σ sensitivity to small κ.

Significance

This work reframes quantum randomness as epistemic incompleteness under bidirectional causal constraints and identifies the arrow of time with informational accessibility rather than microscopic asymmetry. It unifies deterministic dynamics and statistical behavior, links information flow with thermodynamic cost, and provides a concrete experimental path to measure or bound κ using existing photonic technology.

Technical info (English)

For more than a century, the foundations of quantum mechanics have contained an unresolved asymmetry: physical laws are time-symmetric, yet the formalism treats the future as informationally undefined. Standard quantum theory evolves the state forward from initial conditions, while measurement outcomes are inserted probabilistically, breaking the causal balance of the equations.

This asymmetry has led to long-standing interpretational paradoxes such as the measurement problem, wave-function collapse, and the apparent emergence of randomness from deterministic laws. Conventional approaches — including hidden variables, decoherence, and many-worlds interpretations — preserve the asymmetry rather than explain it.

The present framework resolves this foundational inconsistency by restoring causal symmetry: both temporal boundaries jointly constrain evolution, producing a closed informational description. The measurable coupling constant κ quantifies how strongly the universe preserves information between its temporal boundaries.

  • When κ = 0, evolution is perfectly reversible and information-preserving, corresponding to the microscopic quantum domain.

  • When κ > 0, information dissipates across time, creating macroscopic irreversibility and the statistical arrow of time.

Thus, this model unifies the microscopic and macroscopic worlds within one informational law. It reframes quantum indeterminacy as incomplete temporal correlation rather than fundamental randomness, and introduces an experimentally testable pathway toward understanding how entropy, causality, and information are interwoven in the physical universe.

In short, this work provides a mathematically rigorous and empirically grounded solution to the time-asymmetry and measurement problems of quantum mechanics through the principle of causal symmetry.

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Additional details

Dates

Issued
2025-10-23
Date of first public release

References