What is the fundamental nature of the quantum world? Politecnico di Milano leads an international research project on the mathematical and philosophical foundations of quantum physics
Why does time flow from the past towards the future? Are cause-and-effect relationships always well-defined? And how can we describe the universe through the laws of quantum physics? These are some of the questions at the heart of Open Quantum Systems and Causal Structure of Reality, an international research project funded by the John Templeton Foundation with over $4.1 million, jointly led by Politecnico di Milano and the University of Bristol.
The project is co-directed by Giovanni Valente, professor at the Department of Mathematics of Politecnico di Milano, and Karim Thébault of the University of Bristol. The collaboration brings together mathematicians, physicists and philosophers of science from European and US institutions, with the aim of developing new theoretical tools to understand some of the fundamental aspects of quantum reality.
The research challenges two traditional assumptions in physics: that quantum systems can be described as isolated from their surrounding environment and that causal relationships between events are embedded in a predetermined spatial and temporal structure. In reality, however, physical systems continuously interact with their environment. At the same time, quantum physics raises questions about the possibility of describing situations in which the causal order of events is not uniquely defined. Understanding how these two aspects can be addressed together is one of the project's main theoretical challenges.
Among the questions being investigated is also that of the direction of time: why do we distinguish between a past and a future if some of the fundamental laws of physics do not, in themselves, establish a preferred direction of time? The research will also explore the implications of these problems for quantum cosmology, which studies how to apply the principles of quantum theory to our understanding of the universe. To address these questions, the project will integrate theoretical research, mathematical modelling, philosophical analysis and experimental activities.
“We are extremely pleased to host this project, which demonstrates the high standing of our department in the international landscape of research on the foundations of quantum physics. We will address some of the most widely debated topics of the past century, such as causality, the arrow of time and the nature of the quantum world, starting, however, from an unconventional assumption, namely that the constituents of matter are fundamentally open systems. As such, our research requires collaboration across different disciplines: in order to provide a systematic answer to the foundational questions that remain open, the theoretical and experimental aspects of quantum physics will be integrated with the formal rigour of mathematics and the interpretative tools of the philosophy of science. The group working at Politecnico di Milano will play a key role in the implementation of the project, both in terms of the overall coordination of the various units and in terms of achieving new mathematical and philosophical results,” says Giovanni Valente, professor at the Department of Mathematics of Politecnico di Milano.
At Politecnico di Milano, the research will involve the FoQuS – Foundations of Quantum Systems laboratory, within the Department of Mathematics. In addition to Valente, the participating professors will include Michele Correggi and Vojkan Jaksic, who are responsible for two subprojects, as well as Fabrizio Colombo, Franco Fagnola, Davide Fermi and Irene Sabadini.
These professors will work primarily on three interconnected subprojects: the first, led by Valente, focuses on the problem of causality, particularly the question of whether entanglement between quantum systems separated in space and time can be destroyed by acting locally; the second, led by Correggi, builds on the theme of the direction of time and aims to develop models of quantum decoherence with non-Markovian dynamics; while the third, led by Jaksic, will investigate the relationships between information geometry and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics.
The collaboration will also involve META – Social Sciences and Humanities for Science and Technology, the interdisciplinary group at Politecnico di Milano of which Valente is a member, thereby strengthening the dialogue between scientific research and philosophical reflection.
The project will begin on 1 December 2026 and will last 33 months. In addition to Politecnico di Milano and the University of Bristol, it will involve researchers from the universities
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