From no causal loop to absoluteness of cause: discarding the quantum NOT logic

Abstract: The principle of absoluteness of cause' (AC) assumes the cause-effect relation to be observer independent and is a distinct assertion than prohibiting occurrence of any causal loop. Here, we study implication of this novel principle to derive a fundamental no-go result in quantum world. AC principle restrains thetime order' of two spacelike separated events/processes to be a potential cause of another event in their common future, and in turn negates existence of a quantum device that transforms an arbitrary pure state to its orthogonal one. The present {\it no-go} result is quite general as its domain of applicability stretches out from the standard linear quantum theory to any of its generalizations allowing deterministic or stochastic nonlinear evolution. We also analyze different possibilities of violating the AC principle in generalized probability theory framework. A strong form of violation enables instantaneous signaling, whereas a weak form of violation forbids the theory to be locally tomographic. On the other hand, impossibility of an intermediate violation suffices to discard the universal quantum NOT logic.