45 research outputs found
Graphical methods for inequality constraints in marginalized DAGs
We present a graphical approach to deriving inequality constraints for
directed acyclic graph (DAG) models, where some variables are unobserved. In
particular we show that the observed distribution of a discrete model is always
restricted if any two observed variables are neither adjacent in the graph, nor
share a latent parent; this generalizes the well known instrumental inequality.
The method also provides inequalities on interventional distributions, which
can be used to bound causal effects. All these constraints are characterized in
terms of a new graphical separation criterion, providing an easy and intuitive
method for their derivation.Comment: A final version will appear in the proceedings of the 22nd Workshop
on Machine Learning and Signal Processing, 201
Information-theoretic inference of common ancestors
A directed acyclic graph (DAG) partially represents the conditional
independence structure among observations of a system if the local Markov
condition holds, that is, if every variable is independent of its
non-descendants given its parents. In general, there is a whole class of DAGs
that represents a given set of conditional independence relations. We are
interested in properties of this class that can be derived from observations of
a subsystem only. To this end, we prove an information theoretic inequality
that allows for the inference of common ancestors of observed parts in any DAG
representing some unknown larger system. More explicitly, we show that a large
amount of dependence in terms of mutual information among the observations
implies the existence of a common ancestor that distributes this information.
Within the causal interpretation of DAGs our result can be seen as a
quantitative extension of Reichenbach's Principle of Common Cause to more than
two variables. Our conclusions are valid also for non-probabilistic
observations such as binary strings, since we state the proof for an
axiomatized notion of mutual information that includes the stochastic as well
as the algorithmic version.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figure
Quantum violations in the Instrumental scenario and their relations to the Bell scenario
The causal structure of any experiment implies restrictions on the observable
correlations between measurement outcomes, which are different for experiments
exploiting classical, quantum, or post-quantum resources. In the study of Bell
nonlocality, these differences have been explored in great detail for more and
more involved causal structures. Here, we go in the opposite direction and
identify the simplest causal structure which exhibits a separation between
classical, quantum, and post-quantum correlations. It arises in the so-called
Instrumental scenario, known from classical causal models. We derive
inequalities for this scenario and show that they are closely related to
well-known Bell inequalities, such as the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt
inequality, which enables us to easily identify their classical, quantum, and
post-quantum bounds as well as strategies violating the first two. The
relations that we uncover imply that the quantum or post-quantum advantages
witnessed by the violation of our Instrumental inequalities are not
fundamentally different from those witnessed by the violations of standard
inequalities in the usual Bell scenario. However, non-classical tests in the
Instrumental scenario require fewer input choices than their Bell scenario
counterpart, which may have potential implications for device-independent
protocols.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures. Comments welcome! v4: published version in
Quantum journa
Experimental device-independent certified randomness generation with an instrumental causal structure
The intrinsic random nature of quantum physics offers novel tools for the
generation of random numbers, a central challenge for a plethora of fields.
Bell non-local correlations obtained by measurements on entangled states allow
for the generation of bit strings whose randomness is guaranteed in a
device-independent manner, i.e. without assumptions on the measurement and
state-generation devices. Here, we generate this strong form of certified
randomness on a new platform: the so-called instrumental scenario, which is
central to the field of causal inference. First, we theoretically show that
certified random bits, private against general quantum adversaries, can be
extracted exploiting device-independent quantum instrumental-inequality
violations. To that end, we adapt techniques previously developed for the Bell
scenario. Then, we experimentally implement the corresponding
randomness-generation protocol using entangled photons and active feed-forward
of information. Moreover, we show that, for low levels of noise, our protocol
offers an advantage over the simplest Bell-nonlocality protocol based on the
Clauser-Horn-Shimony-Holt inequality.Comment: Modified Supplementary Information: removed description of extractor
algorithm introduced by arXiv:1212.0520. Implemented security of the protocol
against general adversarial attack